Mamajojo's Diary

This year, Joseph is in K1 and Joanne is in N2. Wait, Joseph, my son, in K1????? Oh my gosh!!! Joseph is in K1!!!!! Wow!! Didn't really realise he's so grown up!!! Oh dear..... I'm in serious denial mode here... starting to feel a bit depressed... HE's IN K1!!! Okay, grab a hold of your sanity, woman!! Take it easy, take a deep breathe... Everything's going to be okay... it's just another phase of his development... he's still your precious little baby... oh my.... I have to start psychoing myself to let go and let Joseph become what he is to become... such joy and agony of sweet motherhood...

Well, at least Joanne is still in Nursery class. But very soon next year, she'll be in kindergarten class. Okay, take it easy, take a deep breathe, look at her now and treasure what she is today and everyday. This way, the day when she becomes a K1 kid will seem longer to arrive... I wish...

Jojo have stopped taking violin class this year as they didn't seem interested at all to continue learning the instrument. Although I was very torn between "forcing" them to continue learning it and letting go, I finally decided on the latter as it's not healthy, mentally, for them (and me) to be forced to learn the violin when they are not ready to do so. But I'll continue to ask Papajojo to play the violin with them at home regularly so that they'll remember whatever they've learnt so far. I just hope I did the right thing and not be too lenient to them in this violin-learning issue.

In school, Joseph is taking up the English Speech and Drama Enrichment course (ESDE) every Wednesday. There's five other kids in the course, all are his friends at school. Joseph really loves attending it. He would share with me what they did during the course and talked non-stop when I went to pick him up. He also enjoyed the "Show and Tell" session whereby he's supposed to bring a favourite toy or book to show and talk about it to his teacher and friends. I hope this course will continue to improve his speech and self expression abilities, and improve his social skills. Most importantly, I hope Joseph will enjoy learning and interacting with his teacher and friends in fun ways.

Since the ESDE course wasn't available to younger kids, I let Joanne sign up for ballet lesson. She had expressed great interest to want to learn dancing and every day, she would display some ballerina poses or some funny dance moves. Initially I wanted Joanne to learn Chinese dance as I wanted her to better appreciate her own Chinese culture. But after enquiring a few places, they only take in kids 5 years and older. So Papajojo and I agreed to let her start with ballet dance first. Then we'll see how it goes, whether she'll want to continue learning ballet dance or start Chinese dance.

She's learning Baby Ballet at Bt Timah Plaza every Wednesday, after school . So far she had two lessons already and the teacher said she's learning very well! I'm really proud of her!! She looks so grown up in the ballet attire. Will up the photos to share with you later. My wish for her is that she'll appreciate ballet as a wonderful art of self-expression through body language and movement, and as a form of exercise to keep oneself fit and healthy.

Since Jojo's enrichment lessons ends at the same time on Wednesdays afternoons, I had difficulty try to fetch them both at the same time. Thank God that Jojo's friends' mummies offered to help fetch one of them while I go get the other. It's really a blessing to get to know the other Stay-At-Home Moms (SAHM) whose kids are attending the same school as Jojo. When we meet after dropping our kids or fetching them to and fro school, we would chat and share about our daily happenings which our hubbies wouldn't might not be too interested to know, and offer sound advise when needed. It's like a social support group for me, that I'm not alone in giving up paid work to put my children as my priority in life now.

It's God's blessing that our family financial situation gives me the option to choose to work or be a SAHM to look after our kids who grow up so fast. But at times, I wonder whether I should put my education qualifications to better use by contributing to society in other ways, other than raising happy healthy kids. Well, time permitting, I'll be looking to do volunteer work while kids are in school. The volunteer work hours will be flexible and I'll feel I'm putting my qualifications to good use while looking after Jojo well.

Joanne has a new friend in school, well, actually not that new. Her friend, Alena, joined the school last November and is half a year younger than Joanne. So this year Joanne is in N2 class while Alena is in N1 class. She likes Joanne very much and would always want to share things and play with Joanne.

Initially Joanne didn't behave very friendly towards Alena. I guess it's because she already has her own "gang" of friends prior to knowing Alena, so she wanted to play with them instead of playing with Alena. But since early this month one afternoon after school, when Alena and other kids came to our place for play date, Joanne and Alena started to become closer. (I also got to know and become good friends with Angkana, Alena's mom. She's a wonderfully warm person!).

From next day onwards since the play date at our place, Joanne and Alena would sit next to each other during lunch time and play together. Joanne would tell me: "I am Jie Jie (big sis), Alena is Mei Mei (small sis)." I love to see them talk with each other and play together. Soooooooo cute! Reminds me so much of my childhood when my sis and I would play together. Even Joseph who usually likes to play alone, started to mention about playing with Alena.

I appreciate very much the precious sisterhood I share with my sis. Although she's now living overseas, we remain as close as ever. It's always been a nagging issue on my mind whether to have a third child so that Joseph or Joanne will have the opportunity to experience the blessings of a wonderful brotherhood or sisterhood.

Although we have six nieces (yes, Joseph's the only male grandchild in both Papajojo's and my family!), we don't get to meet them often due to their parents' work commitment and living distances. So Jojo don't get to play often with their cousins. But since Papajojo and I have decided to stop at two, I'm really glad that Joanne now has this wonderful opportunity to experience a close friendship (maybe even consider it as sisterhood!) with Alena. Thank you so much, Angkana, for your friendship and letting Joanne play often with Alena!

Me: Dear, the news reported that Starbucks is going to start a promotion in a city to charge $1 for refillable coffee.

Papajojo: Oh is it? Which city is it?

Me: It mentioned Seattle. That's where Starbucks originated from, I think.

Papajojo: Oh, no wonder the people there are "Sleepless in Seattle" (title of movie starting Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan).

Me:

Eversince we came back from Taipei, Papajojo and I have been craving for the delicious cold desserts sold at an outlet called Ice Monster. We were sooooooo glad and excited when our friend told us that there's an Ice Monster outlet which sells the Taiwanese desserts, right here in Singapore!! Thank you so much Wakana for the info!!

So on one hot Saturday afternoon, we went to the Ice Monster outlet at Bencoolen Street, located on the first floor of the building, The Bencoolen, and ordered these; Mango Ice Shave, Strawberry Ice Shave, & Red Bean with Jelly Ice Shave. Yummy!!!

There's another Ice Monster outlet located at:

68 Orchard Road
#B2-53 Plaza Singapura

Will check it out sometime soon!

While in Taipei, we also drank lots of papaya milk in tetra packs. Since we can't find any in Singapore, I made some "home-made" Papaya Milk Shake using papaya, milk and ice cubes and blended these together. Yummy!

Joanne: Mama, can I watch TV?

Me: Cannot Joanne, we're going to eat dinner soon leh...

Joanne: Mama, don't say leh!!!

Me:

=================================================================

I've always been consciously telling myself and Papajojo not to speak Singlish to Jojo but somehow, sometimes it just slips my mind and tongue. Now Joanne has taken up the role of "Language Police" to correct me and Papajojo whenever we speak Singlish like "leh", "mah", etc... Old habits die hard...

Ahhhh, last day of our Taipei holiday. After a hearty buffet breakfast at the hotel, we packed our bags and headed to the nearby bus terminal. As it was a Saturday, the coach brought us to the Tao Yuan Airport within 1.5 hours. Very smooth ride.

We reached the airport about four hours before departure time as we were afraid of unexpected delay e.g traffic accidents, etc. Thank God there was a fantastic playground for kids so Jojo spent about a good hour at the playground.

Since there was some time left, what better to do than to eat?!! We had this very delicious ramen (japanese noodles) at the foodcourt. Very good!

Thank God for the smooth flight home. Papajojo and I were quite reluctant to leave Taipei after such a good time there. Now that we've been there, we really enjoyed the warm hospitality of the Taiwanese, the food, the onsen, the sight seeing, really was a wonderful experience. I would definitely recommend to you to visit Taiwan, even if you have young kids to bring along. Now have to plan for our next hotspring trip to Taiwan... when huh, Papajojo?!

Having experiencing so many nice hotspring baths on Day 5 of our Taipei tour, Papajojo and I just had to have another visit to another hot spring hotel before the end of our holiday. So straight after breakfast at the hotel, we went to Xin Bei Tou again and visited this hotel called "Mei Dai Wen Quan", located right beside the Mei Du Hotel. Very nicccccccceeeeeeee!!! See the bottom left photo? It's a very precious stone called the "Bei Tou Stone" being displayed within the hotel premise. Beautiful patterns.

Finally, after a good soak, we left Xin Bei Tou and went to another district which is easily accessible by MRT. I think the name of this place is called "Yong Kang". There's this very famous dessert shop which was featured in local TV shows and in Japan. Thank God we found it through Papajojo's fantastic map reading skills. We ordered the Tang Yuan (glutinous rice balls) filled with sesame seeds and peanuts, Milk Ice Shave with Red Beans Topping, Beancurd, and Pearl Milk Tea (milk tea with yam balls, i think). Oouuuuuuuu, yummy!!!

After the delicious desserts, we walked about the area and found the "Yong Kang Fabrics Whole Sale Market". Woo hoo!!! My favourite place!!! I got to see sooooooo many different beautiful fabrics and I actually bought about S$80 worth of them. I felt quite bad about buying them 'cos that meant extra luggage weight for Papajojo to carry. But he's such a darling, he said it's okay for me to buy the fabrics since I can't get them in Singapore. Thank you so much, Papajojo!!!

See the photos of dessert above? Well, after getting the fabrics, we actually went back to the same dessert shop to eat again!! Hee hee... After that we went to a nearby night market streets and saw soooooo many different types of street food. We settled down in a small shop and ordered Xiao Long Bao, Braised Meat with Rice and Noodles. Very very fresh tasting and delicious!!!

We walked about the night street and saw this poster about Peter Rabbit Stamps being sold at the Post Office. We wanted to get a set of it for Jojo's Guu-guu who loves Peter Rabbit but it was already late and all the Post Office were closed. Hope we'll be able to get it for her during our next visit to Taipei.

Finally, the last event of the day before heading back to our hotel. We visited another night street market, sooo many different types of yummy delicious food being sold!!! How I wished we could eat all of them then!! If you're going for holiday in Taiwan, must try to visit the many different night street markets to try all the yummy food!!

Here's something I find interesting to share with you. My sis, who's living in Texas now,emailed it to me. Papajojo, Jojo and I had lived in Texas in 2005 for about a year and whatever's written in the following, to a great extend, I agree!!

==================================================================

Subject: To all my Texas friends and those who wish they were from
Texas

Forget Rednecks, here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about folks from Texas!

If someone in a Lowe's store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in Texas.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Texas.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Texas.

If "Vacation" means going anywhere south of Dallas for the weekend, you may live in Texas.

If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Texas.

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Texas.

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Texas.

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Texas.

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody s passing you, you may live in Texas.

If you find 60 degrees "a little chilly", you may live in Texas.

If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your Texas friends & others, you definitely live in Texas.

Day 5, I must say, is the most enjoyable days of our Taipei Tour. Why? Because we got to visit and enjoy the hot springs of Taipei!!

This was the one thing that I looked forward to do the most before our Taipei trip. Papajojo and I had enjoyed the wonderful hot springs, called onsen in Japanese, during our past holidays in Japan. When we knew that there are onsens in Taipei, we decided to check out and see if the quality of onsens in Taipei are as good as those in Japan. After breakfast, we took the MRT to the station called Xin Tou Bei. After arriving, we could see lots of sign boards and advertisments for the different onsens in the Xin Bei Tou area. So happy!! We decided to walk around to explore the area and saw this cultural centre about the aborginal race. Interesting displays!

As we walked further away from the MRT station, we could see more and more hot springs hotels around. See the drain below? There's hot spring water flowing through it!! We wanted to soak our feet in the water but there was a notice nearby warning people that the water in the drain is dirty and advised against doing so. So we continued walking and decided to check out this hotel called Sui Du Hotel.

It's easy to check into this hotel. We paid about S$60 to enjoy using the room for 2 hours. There's an attached bath tub, big enough to fit all four of us. The hot spring water, very very hot, was mixed with cold tap water to about 39 C. Jojo were initially quite scared of the hot water but after awhile all four of us were happily soaking in it. Very very very very nicccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

After a very comfortable soak and rest, we went to this nearby shop to eat Hot Spring Ramen. Apparently, this shop is pretty famous and popular amongst tourists and locals. We ordered seaweed, fish roe, tofu, half boiled egg cooked with hot spring water (said to improve skin and lengthen life span!!) and the hot spring ramen. Very delicious!!! Joseph drew the Sui Du hotel while waiting for the food to come.

After the wonderful meal, we walked around the area and saw many hot spring hotels. How I wished we could visit every one of them!!

There was also a public hot spring pools so we decided to check it out. The entrance fee was very cheap, only S$1 per entry. They cleaned the pools every 2 hours so the pools were in good condition. As the pools were opened to both males and females, visitors are required to wear swimsuit before entering the pools. Photography were not allowed within the premises of the public pools but Papajojo secretly took photographs... heehee.. There were 3 hot pools and 2 cold pools. I would have enjoyed it more if only the pools were for ladies only and I didn't have to wear the swimsuit to enter the pools...

Not feeling satisfied with the public pools, we went straight to another hot spring hotel called the Wen Quan Yen Hotel. The fees for 2 hours use was more expensive than the first one we visited as it is located nearer to the MRT station and the view from the hotel room were much better. I love the tatami floors and the decor of the room. Very very nice!!! The hot spring water was also very nice. My skin felt soooooooooo smooth after soaking in it!! All four of us enjoyed soaking and relaxing in the hot spring water so much, we didn't want to leave when time was up. Well, next time we visit Taipei again, we're sure to check into a hot spring hotel immediately after landing at the airport!!

By the time we left the Wen Quan Yen Hotel and took the MRT station to return to our hotel room, it was about 7pm. We didn't want to go out again for dinner so I went out alone to the Mitsukoshi Departmental store and bought some cream puffs and creme bulee for dinner. Delicious!! Joseph looked as if he was going to doze off any moment while eating the cream puff. I guess he really enjoyed and felt relaxed after soaking in the hot spring water.

By Day 4, Joanne's health was still bad. Although her fever had gone down in the morning, her cough and runny nose were still bad. She looked quite tired and was easily upset during our buffet breakfast at the hotel. She insisted to be carried around wherever we went. Poor Papajojo had to become Joanne's personal "carrier". I hope his back won't give way too soon...

After breakfast, we decided to visit this tourist spot called Chiu Fen. From Taipei Railway Station (TRS), we bought train tickets for third class train (ie train with more stops in between and free seating) for Papajojo and myself (kids under 12 travel free, yippy!) to go to Rei Fang Station (RFS). Before arriving the TRS, we didn't have free computer access from our hotel room to check the departure time from TRS to RFS. So we had to wait for about an hour for the next train ride.

When we reached RFS at about 12pm after the 50min train ride, we immediately went to the ticket counter to check the departure times from RFS back to TRS and bought train tickets for first class train (ie train with less stops in between and fixed seats), departured at 4pm. There was a tourist information counter at the RFS to advise visitors on how to get to Chiu Fen. We were told to take a public bus at a bus stop across the street, opposite the RFS, in order to get to Chiu Fen. We waited for about 20 mins for the bus but there were too many people getting onto it, so we waited another 15 mins for the next bus. It costed NT22 (about S$1) per adult per trip. When we reached the destination, about 15 mins later, thre was quite heavy rain. Thank God we brought along rain coats for Jojo, and a wind breaker for myself. Papajojo felt alright and didn't need extra clothing.

We took shelter at a small eatery and had quick lunch of rice with meat and soup. Nothing special about the meal so no photos here to show. After that the rain seemed to have lighten a bit so we walked to the famous Chiu Fen Old Street nearby.

Despite the rainy weather, there were quite a number of tourists walking through the street. Lots of food, clothes, accessories, handicrafts souvenirs, etc on sale. We bought some of the food like the yam balls, doraemon candy, rice cakes, to sample. Tasted quite good. The not-so-good-thing about Chiu Fen Old Street was the walkway was not totally covered. It was quite a hassle to carry an umbrella to walk around and not to get into other people's way. There were quite a number of steps along the street too, so it's not very elderly or physically disabled friendly. Nonetheless, it was quite a pleasant experience for tourists to see and experience so many different types of Taiwan's local produce.

After walking through Chiu Fen Old Street, we took the public bus back to RFS as we didn't want to risk missing our train ride. While waiting at the bus stop, there was an elderly couple who were waiting at the opposite bus stop. They shouted across the road to us, asking us in Japanese where we were going. Papajojo replied that we were going back to RFS and they told us we waited at the wrong station. We should cross the road and wait at their bus stop. We really appreciate their care and concern 'cos otherwise, we might miss our train ride.

When we reached the bus stop next to RFS, since there's still time before our train ride, we walked around the area near RFS and found this indoor food court. Since it was still drizzling, we took shelter inside and ate some beancurd dessert. Very smooth, delicious. Jojo in the meantime ate and played with their Doraemon candy...

When it was time to take the train ride back to TRS, boy was I soooooo glad that we bought tickets for first class train!! The seats were sooooooo comfortable and spacious. There's even foot rest too! Thanks most to Papajojo who let me sleep throughout the journey while he looked after Jojo. He carried Joanne most of the time while in Chiu Fen. He's really a very loving and caring hubby and Papa to Jojo. Papajojo, You're the best !!!

See the photos of the food above on the bottom left and middle? That must be the WORST meal during our entire trip in Taiwan. We had it for dinner in one of the restaurants in the underground mall at Taipei City MRT station. The rice in the stone bowl was dry while the ramen tasted rubbery. The only consolation was the dessert we had at another shop. Yummy, refreshing!!

Papajojo left this morning to go to Florida, USA for a working trip. He checked into the brand new Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3. It's impressive and beautiful!! Made of mainly glass and steel, it's got high ceiling and huge floor area, good for kids to run about! He'll be coming back on 21st Jan.

Dear Papajojo, hope you'll have a good and safe working trip in Florida! See you soon! Lots of love from Jojo and me.

On morning of Day 3, Joanne's fever had gone down but her cough and runny nose was still bad. We decided to take it easy and went to somewhere nearby without much walking so that Jojo won't get too tired at the end of the day. We took the MRT, then switched to the LRT. It was really easy and convenient to take the MRT and LRT. Right next to the LRT station was the Japanese departmental store, SOGO. Very convenient for shoppers.

Here's photos of the LRT. Jojo were very thrilled to sit in the unmanned LRT!

After arriving the station, we walked for about 100m to the Mao Kong Gondola Station. It's the new Ropeway which started operating just a few months ago. When we arrived at the station, there was a long queue. The queue was orderly and since the weather was cool, Jojo didn't mind the queue. We waited for about 45 mins for our turn to take the gondola. The single trip fare for adult costed only NT50, about S$ 2.50. Very cheap compared to the fare of Singapore cable car (about S$15). There were a total of three stops, the last stop being 300m above sea level. Nice sceneries!

As we approached the last stop, it started to rain. By the time we reached the top, it was raining and cold, about 5 degree celcius. We didn't bring enough warm clothing and since Jojo were unwell, after a mere 5 mins stay at the last stop, we took the gondola back. Next time we'll make sure to stay longer at the top to better enjoy the sceneries.

After taking the LRT back to the station, next to the SOGO departmental store, we got off and walked around the streets. Lots of shops selling clothes, shoes, accessories, food, etc. We stopped by this public playground for Joseph to play awhile. Joanne fell asleep by then so she didn't get to enjoy the playground.

After a good half hour play, Joseph was tired and we decided to head back to our hotel to rest. By the time we reached our hotel room, Joanne's fever had returned and Joseph fell asleep not long after.

Here's the food we had on Day 3. On the top left, it's Japanese Ramen. On top right and bottom left, it's hot stone seafood soup. Yummy! While we were having these for lunch at the food court at SOGO, next to our table was a lady having lunch with her family. She looked and sounded familiar. Then I recalled she's Zhou Ru Zhu, ex-SBC TV show compere, last time hosting TV shows with Zhang Yong Quan in the 80s. Not sure how many of you remembered these two persons but I remembered watching them on TV then. I was too shy to say hello to her so after eating, we just left.

On the botoom right, was our dinner. I bought the Meat Bao, Onigiri and Papaya Milkshake at the 7-Eleven store just next to our hotel. I also bought the gyoza and jiao ji which we ate on the first day of our trip back to the hotel for dinner. Simple and delicious!

When we woke up in the morning, Day 2 of our Taipei tour, Joanne and Joseph began to cough and had runny nose. Papajojo and I were also starting to feel unwell. Wonder if it was the winter flu bug which we caught... Nonetheless, we decided to venture out after a hearty buffet breakfast at our hotel.

Our hotel was located right next to the Taipei Raiway Station and the underground Taipei City Station. So it was very convenient for us to take the public transport to go places. The Taipei MRT system is very much like the one in Singapore. Very convenient and easy to get around. Kids age 12 and below travel free!! Singapore should do this too... The Taipei MRT fees are also slightly cheaper than that in Singapore. There were lots of taxis on the road too. The most common form of transportation for the locals is however motorcycles. Every where you go, you're sure to see lots of them on the road, parked along road sides and car parks. We felt that the air quality of Taipei city was very bad. Next time we'll remember to bring along and wear mask while walking along the streets in Taipei (lots of locals do that).

From our hotel, we walked to the nearby National Taiwan Museum and looked around the outdoor exhibits. You'll see the ancient "kitchen" in the picture below, made of stones. Then we walked to the nearby park called the "228 He Ping Gong Yuan" (Peace Garden). You'll see the pagoda and the pool. Very serene, quiet. We were quite surprised to find this park in the midst of busy Taipei city. Kind of like the Central Park in New York. Further down the park, there was people doing all sorts of exercises like Taichi, aerobic dance, sword dance, etc, and kids playing at the playground. Jojo of course ran around the played to their hearts' delight too.

After a good half hour at the park, we walked again along the streets of Taipei and saw (below, top pic, left) Taipei City Hall. The pic on the top, right showed the Stop sign in Chinese. Then we walked on and arrived at the "Chong Zhen Ji Nian Gong Yuan" (Chung Cheng Memorial Park). Such a huge, open space. The strong wind almost blew Jojo away... The Concert Hall and National Theatre were under repair. Nonetheless, we could still see some parts of these two huge, beautiful architectural structures.

Above, see the second row from top, most right pic? Those are dustbins. Very oriental design. One bin is for recyclable waste like paper, plastic, while the other is for non-recyclable waste like food.

We then walked to the nearby MRT station located underground. Joseph was absolutely thrilled to see the Taipei blue train. The trains are just like the ones we have in Singapore. Very clean. One big difference though, was that the Taipei trains have seats which faced front and back, not just at the sides of the train. This is more comfortable for the elderly and small children so that they won't slide off their seats whenever the train slowed down or started moving. Hopefully the trains in Singapore will also have these seats.

Next stop, the "Guo Fu Ji Jian Guan". It's a memorial hall dedicated to the late Dr Sun Yat-Sen. There's big open spaces surrounding the building and you could see people doing all kinds of activities there like dancing, exercising, kite flying, etc. Very nice place to spend time with family and friends. You can vaguely see the world second tallest building, the "Taipei 101" at the back.

As we walked towards the Taipei 101 building, we went passed a local wet market. The stalls were set up just by the road side and you could see all the fresh veggies, fruits, meat and seafood displayed at the stalls. The housewife in me just wanted to grab all those yummy food and cook up a storm! Nonetheless, I was thankful that we were on holiday and got relieved from cooking duties for a week. Hee hee... Just then, we saw this shop which sold cooked food like noodles and rice. Yummy. Fantastic meal! The whole meal costed about S$15, very reasonable, value for money.

Taipei 101 has a huge shopping area located at the first few storeys of the building. The rest of the storeys are mainly offices. We didn't want to pay to get to the highest floor so we left after a short stay. We then went to this famous shopping street called "Xi Men Ding". Lots of shops selling clothes, accessories, food. We found this famous shop "Ah Zhong Mian Xian" which sold thin noodles. I bought a big serving which costed about $2.50. Lots of people were queueing to buy this dish and squating at the road side to eat it. Honestly speaking, I didn't find it very delicious. Just ok lah. Maybe I didn't know how to appreciate it as well as the locals. After eating that, we visited the dessert shop called "Taipei Dairy King" and had beancurd and soy bean drink. Sorry no pics here. The dessert was only so-so, nothing great we find.

As we walked towards the MRT station, we went passed shops selling sushi, DVDs, clothes, etc. There's even a chinese temple located between the shops. We then saw this famous ancient building called "Hong Lou Ju Chang" near the MRT station. Didn't manage to see more of it as Jojo were getting cranky and tired.

Finally after a full day of walking and traveling around Taipei City, we decided to go back to the hotel. When we reached the hotel room, Joanne had a fever and was really grumpy. I went to the Japanese departmental store, Mitsukushi, located across the road from our hotel to buy medicine for Joanne. Thank God it was easy to find and buy children's medicine. Joseph was also given the same medicine for his cough and runny nose.

I find that travelling around Taipei city is easy and safe, even with young children in tow. It's definitely more convenient to travel around if you can read and speak Chinese (I felt very "high" and shiok to be able to read and speak Chinese all the time while in Taipei, felt very very "at home"!). But even if you don't, there are maps displayed around the city and MRT stations. The locals are also very friendly and willing to help. Whenever we took the MRT and the trains were crowded, there were people always very willing to give up their seats for Jojo, all the time! We were very impressed by their considerate behavior. Even though it was only the second day of our holiday in Taiwan, Papajojo and I already decided that we'll definitely want to go to Taiwan again.

I read from the newspaper on Saturday that a Singapore local entertainment-comedian artist, Lan Qin Xi, or MC King as he's more popularly known, passed away suddenly on Friday. He was 40. I was quite sadden by this news. Although I'm not a great fan of his, I enjoyed watching him performed comedy skits on TV in the past years and listening to his radio program which he hosted last year on FM97.2.

He's not good looking and not handsome, In fact, he's short and round. But it's his personality and attitude to life which attracted me and his other fans to his shows. His positive outlook to life, his diligent work ethics, his sincerity, etc, all of his colleagues and friends gave a very postive remarks of him during his wake. He left behind his mom and younger brother. Although he's not a Christian (he's a Buddhist), I pray that God will bless his soul. May MC King rest in peace.

It's been reported that many men died suddenly when they're in their early forties. After learning about MC King's sudden demise, I was very worried about Papajojo. He's turning 41 this year and I became paranoid about his health. He said he just did a thorough health checkup recently and was given a clean bill of health. I pray that he'll continue to be healthy and happy. Life is short indeed, so we'll cherish whatever time we have with each other.

Taiwan gives me the general impression of being neat and organised, its roads, buildings, etc, evidence of the influences from the Japanese when Japan ruled Taiwan for 40 years till end of WW II. Kinds of felt like we were in Japan while touring Taipei. The people are also very polite and friendly. They warm up quickly to children so Jojo received lots of attention during our trip.

We took the Singapore Airlines flight, about 4hrs duration, and Jojo were kept busy during the air ride by the personal TV programs (marvellous invention!!!). When we touched down at Tao Yuan Airport in Taipei, it was around 6pm and sun had already set. The air temperature was around 20 deg C throughout our trip, very pleasant. We bought coach tickets at the airport without much trouble and were ferried to the bus stop opposite our accomodation, the Cosmos Hotel. The hotel room had 2 queen size beds so all of us could sleep comfortably. Since we were tired from the flight and it was already 8pm, we ventured to the underground mall which was located right next to our hotel for dinner. And here's what we ate.

The gyoza and dumplings were delicious!! It was cheap (10 pcs for S$2.50) and yummy! After dinner, we just returned to our hotel room to rest for the next day's program.

Dear all, wish you a very happy 2008! May you be blessed with good health, love & success in whatever you pursue!

This year, we ordered the Japanese traditional new year food called "Osechi" from a Japanese supermarket. It's preserved food prepared before the new year for the family so that the Japanese housewives can have a few days of break from cooking during the first days of the new year. Looks yummy! Oishii so!