Hong Kong/Guangzhou

We had decided to visit HK and GZ despite all the bad press about the flu etc. Consider it a last honeymoon when its just the 2 of us. Of course, future trips with the child or children might probably be fun and excitement, but will definitely be different. There is a freedom when its just us, you know?

Overall, pretty much enjoyed the chance to get out of stifling Singapore, despite my not 100% constitution. Appetite issues and headaches did plague me sometimes in the trip, but they were fairly manageable, probably coz i was in or near my 2nd trimester. and yeah, maybe its psychological too ;P Nonetheless, we did get a chance to cover most of the places we liked to, although we really had to pace ourselves and take it easy.

Transport
We flew to HK via Jetstar, but booked too late and missed all the promos :( the final price difference was just about $100 from SQ. I find the airplane quite decent actually in terms of leg room, stability etc. But personally, I think SQ would have been a better bet, less hassle of taxing from airplane when landed to the HK airport. And with the limitation that fluids cannot be brought on the plane, $5 to fork out for a bottle of mineral water seemed a bit steep. Foodwise, it was about $10 for a plate of fried rice or nasi lemak. We refused to pay restaurant price for microwaved food however, so we gave the meals a miss.

HK MTR was very convenient though, connecting the airport directly to our destination in Kowloon station for about HK$140 for two tickets. Subsequently, we found the HK MTR very convenient for getting around HK, with simple to understand maps and instructions despite having many rail lines. Price-wise, a trip to the Disneyland station costs about HK$16+ pax, which is about $3+?

Taxis were also fairly convenient and plentiful, and inexpensive too for areas inaccessible via MTR.

To get to Guangzhou, we took the train. I've never taken a train except for the New Zealand trans-atlantic was it called? So images of steam engines fed with coal and noisy wheels came to mind. The train to GZ was a pleasant surprise. Clean and comfortable, it was much more spacious than expected. Other passengers included many businessmen in suits.

Shopping
I couldn't seem to get much shopping done in HK or GZ. It would have been slightly better if I weren't expecting or if I had solid faith I could retain my figure after birth. As it was, I only got a couple of tops from HK ESPIRIT that could be worn during maternity. Ming managed to get some tops from there too.

The very popular HK Ladies' Market yielded nothing for us though. Felt was quite 'pasar malam' type of goods that you could find pretty much many countries in SEA. Considered some soft toys but nothing too interesting.

Food
Surprisingly, the food wasn't as spectacular as I hoped (maybe with the exception of one classy dim sum restaurant our hosts introduced us to), with all the rumours of gastronomical delights available in HK. We tried dim sum, their cha chan ting, foodcourts, restaurants and fast food. Perhaps we just didn't know where to try? Pricewise however, mostly it was pretty much cheaper than back home though. I hunted high and low to no avail for my peanut paste though. But surprisingly found the wanton la mien in a foodcourt near the ulu Hong Hum station of very good standard. That was where we took the train to Guangzhou later in the trip. We had quite many meals at fast food joints though.

Food in Guangzhou was also lackluster, but it was cheap. Cheaper than HK, and much cheaper than home. There were many rumours and cautions on their hygiene standard, but given I was pregnant and yet didn't encounter any tummy upsets, I conclude it was safer than rumoured.

Attractions
The highlight of the trip I have to admit was Disneyland. We were in 2 minds about going there given the bad reviews it suffered. I wasn't too impressed with the one I went in California so this one must have been worse I deduced, plus the fact I couldn't take the rides in my pregnant state. But since it was Ming's 1st trip to Disneyland, we thought to give it a shot anyway. We heard tonnes about its small size and how half a day was enough, so we went there only at 11am (opens at 10am) expecting a leisurely enjoyment of the park. We only managed 'leisurely' before lunch. Instead it was much rushing from ride to show to shopping to meals. We really didn't have the time to complete the tour of the entire Disneyland and had to forgo many rides we wanted to take, to our disappointment. We shouldn't have lingered in Main Street and taken our meals on the run because between the queuing and waiting, there just wasn't enough time. Very sad to miss the Winnie the Pooh ride Ming wanted to take :(

The Peak (Victoria, was it?) was another attraction we went to. Fairly nice, despite the long painful queue to board the tram. And we weren't prepared for the butt freezing cold at the Peak while we tried our best to snap photos while shivering. We really shouldn't have bought the ticket to the scenic viewing gallery as there were plenty of other places from which the view could be enjoyed. We didn't know that of course, so nevermind. Foodwise, the ribs there was fairly good, but guess we should have ordered the shrimp they were famous for.

Miserable

This is the worst phase of the pregnancy thus far. Since Monday, I had been nursing a migraine that fades in and out but stubbornly refuses to make an exit. The nasty thing about migraine coupled with the dizzy spells of pregnancy, I don't dare to stand too near the MRT tracks anymore lest i lose my balance. I also feel disoriented and lost in a crowd, losing all navigational skills. It also makes working on a computer hard and i always must turn down the backlight or my eyes feel strained and tired, worsening the pain. It also caused my 1st puking session since i got pregnant. Sleeping is another problem, as i can no longer seem to sleep uninterrupted. Wake up in the night, sometimes unable to get back to sleep.

i also hate that it caused my appetite to take a downturn, causing family to fret over everything i ate (or didn't eat). I certainly felt I was mature enough to worry about my own diet. I recalled before I got pregnant, I promised myself I will be one of those model mums who would eat a healthy, nutritious diet for the sake of my unborn child. But reality could be cruel, as my tastebuds got really picky (frankly i'm not much a picky eater before pregnancy) and I only seem to crave unhealthy food (chicken rice, laksa, otah, fast food etc). This of course made family fret even more. which stresses me out and headache gets worse, and cycle continues :(

Second visit, first regurgitation

i went to see the gynae happily today, all hopeful to know the gender of baby. unfortunately, she couldn't commit to me any gender at all :( say its too early. but but, when she was doing the scan, she (purposely i think) disturbed the baby so that baby moved her hand! look like baby was waving at me! very very cute. baby is now about 4.7cm, last visit baby was just under 1cm. =) grown so much from first visit hor? sigh but i had such high hopes to go to HK knowing to buy blues or pinks! hee... oh yes, gynae say i put on 300gm :( she say not good for 1st trim. say if weight gain in 1st trim means tendancy to gain weight. hai.. better watch diet le.

it was a really warm day compared to previously, and me and mum marched all of orchard up down running errands and for a yummy brayani lunch near ming's workplace. probably the heat and exertion got to me, and i settled home nursing a migraine. in the evening, i puked my 1st since pregnancy :(

Michael's first month

the girls and i popped by simei to visit fran and her new addition to the family, michael darius. he was quite active already, with a pair of big alert eyes that were already pretty focused. the girls took turns carrying him but unoruntely coz pandang for me, i din get to carry him :( photos for this pending in fran's camera. Fran and sugi also shared their very interesting labour experiences (note to self, write birth plan...) and it was quite interesting to see sugi handle the tiny baby michael. to his credit, michael stopped crying when daddy picked him up. so he must be quite good at it ya? =)

fran's aunt oso made a killer mee siam for us, with huge slices of fresh succulent prawns, and the chilli!! yum! words cannot describe. and not to mention the yummy fish-paste you tiao...droolz... we all had second (or third) helpings ;P was really very yummy

Should-have-stayed-home Saturday

You know there are some days that u just wished u stayed in bed? this had gotta be one of those days. and we knew this year wasn't quite auspicious for us. why din we just stay home?

guess it all started with me. after 5 days of restricting myself to miserable canteen food, i just had to get out in the weekend to catch up on my cravings. i had a long to do (and to eat) list i wanted to fulfill this weekend, so we headed off to Marina Square early in the morning, about 10+. Of course hardly any shop was open yet so we window shopped for what to eat for lunch. too many choices, too little stomach :( we decided to share a whopper meal at BK. Yes, throughout my pregnancy, I kept craving fast food, its totally irritating. I think I have eaten as much fastfood in the last 3 months as I had for the past 3 years. I'm normally not a huge fan. But the thought of the yummy mayo mixed with tomato, oozing out of the succulent burger...argh... it even beat my kimchi fried rice craving i'd been having since forever. We shared the meal so we may share the big prawn noodles i had been craving for from lavender food center since i watched that cursed show on channel U.

so after shopping around marina square for some baby stuff, and resting a while, to cut long story short, we eventually headed to lavender food center, where parking was all in parallel. and did i mention, the parking here was killer? even at an off peak hour, the roads were packed with cars parked in parallel lots and traffic inching forward in the narrow 2 way lane. as we tried to inch our way into a carpark, we scratched a car waiting by the road :( between settling and claiming of insurance, the 'victim' wanted to 'save the trouble' and pocket hundred over dollars from us. we had a really tough time looking for an atm after that. ming even broke his slipper (bad things come in pairs indeed). when we finally gave up looking for a dbs or uob atm, after walking the entire stretch atound the food center and we decided to use the ocbc atm to withdraw from uob, regardless of charges. i'm sure as they ate their ah lam noodles, they used our money and probably were unlikely to send the car for servicing for that small scratch on the door. i know i wouldn't. it was a most costly lunch for us.

My first seat

Today, amazingly, i got my first volunteered seat! Not sure if its coz i already look pregnant or coz i was carrying 2 heavy bags, one for a laptop. nonetheless, put me in a good mood for the day to know such nice ppl are around =) kudos!

Hong Kong

Hai, we had finally confirmed our dates and booked airtickets for Hong Kong. Then we heard over the news about the flu bug in Hong Kong. Furthermore this morning heard that even more students were infected and school holidays were brought forward to prevent an epidemic! How come so suay?? Last time i probably won't care or just go take flu jab. But now with little one inside, I really am in 2 minds. dunno wanna take the risk to go not? furthermore we fly budget airline, cannot even change date! even if change, my school opening soon liao. by the time next break, baby due liao, how to go...? so how now? to go or not to go, that is the question? why so many obstacles one...

Search is on

Apparently, confinement nannies are booked way in advance. So now commences my search for confinement nanny. with so many posters in the forum is hard to tell which is an imposter. and hearing so many nightmare stories of bad CLs, just make me worry. hai.

On a side note, ate macdonalds mcspicy meal today. hai super sinful. but haha changed the coke for Sprite lor. no caffiene de. lots of sugar and oil tho. haha yum yum tho