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London Dec 2024 (7th – 18th Dec)

#The Twins go to London!

The Twins hit London!

At Changi Singapore to catch SQ308 from SIN – LHR, at almost 14hours this would be our longest flight thus far! We were originally planning to be back by the 18th Dec 2024 which was when Secondary School Postings for 2025 would be announced, but had we known we didnt have to ballot to our dream schools we would have either gone later, and/or extended our trip!

Arrived in late afternoon to some really turbulent weather into Heathrow – the last 15mins or so before touchdown was particularly rocky, some of the pax were visibly shaken and heard coughing violently – likely sick from the bumpy ride (we know jolly well how that felt like!). For now everyone was glad to have arrived after the long flight. Cleared relatively quickly thanks to the fast clearance for *G in Heathrow.

All visibly tired but glad to have arrived in one piece!

Weather was wet and cold, London was facing some really strong gale winds that day (we later heard about the culprit Storm Darragh that hit, causing widespread disruption to flights and ferry services).

We were literally blown away on arrival, due to the gale force winds, thankfully we got to our apartment in one piece! This would have been our first holiday in a rental apartment which we found available through the almost 2 weeks of our time in a nicely tucked away corner in South-East London.

Compton House.

We were so tired arriving in (traffic in London is horrendous!) to the apartment after almost an hour and a half from LHR. Alas, a nice respite and a home away from home.

Hit the sack early to recover – weather still looking wet and dreary the next morning (Sunday), so typical of London; but we didn’t allow that to dampen nor thwart our plans! We take it easy and hang out at M&S, Tesco Express (and Extra!) along with Sainsbury to get acquainted with the surroundings, and setup the Christmas tree! Oh we did also binge watch “Is it Cake?” and got acquainted with the “Paddington” series on Netflix!

Getting acquainted with M&S and the Bakery!
Royal Arsenal Woolwich

On Monday we made our way to Green Park tube station via Bond Street en route to Buckingham Palace to catch the changing of guards (happens only 11am Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays – a ceremony marking the official handover of duties from one group of soldiers to another). It seems there are different guards/uniforms for summer/winter months (along with different music accompaniment. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Guard) so that day we were able to catch the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (complete with their Household Cavalry brass band in tow).

Where’s Mah Mah???

Fun fact – Daddy says when the flag is up, the King is in! 🙂

Along the Mall outside Buckingham Palace
The spritely mounted Royal Horse Guards

Pro-tip, go in at least 45mins before and stakeout the ‘roundabout’/circular landing (Queen Victoria Memorial Monunent) for best vantage views if you’re at Buckingham Palace. Note also there are changing of guards at St. James Palace. Once that was all done, we walked around St. James Park (saw many friendly squirrels who seems ‘accustomed’ to visitors trying to feed/pat them!), and covered a far bit of the gardens while making our way to Westminster Abbey, past Big Ben, north along Parliament Street to see 10 Downing Street, Household Cavalry Museum (Royal Horse Guards) ending at Trafalgar Square (Charing Cross station).

Westminster Abbey
Big Ben and London Eye
10 Downing Street
Household Cavalry Museum

We spotted a super cute Peppa Pig Afternoon Tea Bus Tour on the way!

We finished up the day completing upwards of 10,000 steps (follow our trail below)!

Finishing up at Trafalgar Square and Charing Cross Station…

Tuesday

Next day, onto Oxford Circus – saw @HarmonieLondon outside John Lewis Oxford Street.

Headed to Covent Garden Apple Market and Christmas Markets.

Enjoyed some entertainment from some good ‘ol street buskers – fire/torch jugglers, some half-naked men juggling knives while balancing on a ladder, street soccer performer, and many aspiring singers!

Oh yes, we also bumped into the Grinch in the subway on the way back (reminiscent of The Horseman Pianist we chanced upon in the subway/MTR in Hong Kong)!

Wednesday

What a hearty brekkie whipped up by the J-crew! Our very own (Hilton-worthy) hot breakfast.

Hearty brekkie before setting out!

British Heritage Museum / Natural History Museum featuring a cool earthquake simulator / room with a mockup of a Kobe supermarket amidst the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Checkout the vid below.

Hintze Hall at the British Natural History Museum.

Famous British Fish and Chips – The Fish Plaice (also found on the London Guide Daddy made us read up on prior to the trip).

The Fish Plaice, 32 Museum St., London

We tried the Cod and Haddock fish, but truth be told, the Halibut @ Small Fish & Big Fish in Singapore is so much better (below 1 week after getting home)!

Thursday

British Museum (skeletons of dino).

The very expansive British Museum

Bayswater Duck – the famed Four Seasons and Gold Mine. We settled for Gold Mine this time as YYMM were there just May this year and had some great reviews on the duck.

After a very late lunch, we head to Harrod’s at Knightsbridge.

Friday

Next day, we head out on our own to Tottenham Court Road, we check out London’s West End Tickets – sprawled around Leicester Square (TodayTix, Leicester Square Half Price Box Office, but eventually settle for Mrs Doubtfire for Sunday’s matinee via TKTS. Never buy full-fee musical tix in London!

Walked around the Leicester Square Christmas Markets, checked out the really huge Lego Store on Leicester (we made our very own personalized miniature Lego figurines) and visited the ‘world’s largest’ M&Ms store (have you ever seen another M&M store this huge)? Dig the M&M’s on steroids!

Look who’s here? Mr Rowan Atkinson himself!
The Brats staking out the Bratwurst store which seems to be a staple at every Christmas Market!

Around the corner to the world’s largest M&Ms store @ Leicester Square, spanning 35,000 square feet across four floors.

Lego store at Leicester Square!

Aston Martin in Lego!
Mr Beefeater!
Big Ben using 344,020 bricks, 1035kg and 2735 hours to complete!

Personalizing our own Lego Figurines…

Strolled around Chinatown.

Rode the tube to Paddington Station.

On the platform where the bear donning a red hat and blue coat first arrived, fresh off the boat (or train) from Peru!

Please look after this bear, thank you!
Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington at the Paddington Station platform in 1958.

Saturday

Next day had some really glorious weather. Went back with YYMMGG to (guess where?!) Tottenham Court again, Chinatown, Leicester Square Christmas Markets and had more Chinese food in Chinatown! Walking around we couldn’t help notice there was a lot of horse poop along the streets. Looked like the police horse had a bad case of diarrhoea from last night’s dinner! yikes!

Four Seasons Chinatown, 12 Gerrard Street Chinatown London

Sunday

Sunday, we take it easy and head to Spitalfields Markets (via Liverpool Street Station). Note – pronounced “Spiitafields, not Spite-a-fields!”.

Rushed back to Tottenham Court Rood and made a dash to Shaftesbury Theatre for Mrs. Doubtfire. We had underestimated the time to get to the theatre from Spitalfields (having had lunch at the markets and finding our way back to Liverpool St. Station via a different route!), consequently super worried about missing, or being locked out (if late) for our 3.30pm matinee! Thank God we literally made it in the nick of time – our guide who got us to the right exits and straight on to Shaftesbury!

We finish up the day playing Monopoly with Daddy.

“Who comes to London having not played the original Monopoly”?

And so we get acquainted with Liverpool St. Station, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street (Marylebone Station!) and the infamous Parklane and Mayfair both of which were mine before Daddy and Didi landed on got bankrupt!!!

Monday

Sky Garden observatory at the 43rd floor of the Fenchurch building (aka the Walkie-Talkie), a 10min walk from Liverpool St. Station.

Dazzling views across London far as the eye could see (pictured below the HMS Belfast with The Shard in the foreground).

Tower Bridge
Tower of London

Walk along London Bridge (humming a familiar tune?) towards Burrough Markets. We even saw a stall selling Singapore Laksa!

Bade farewell to YYMMGG, continued on our own… back to our fav spot Tottenham Court via Piccadilly Circus, walked to Leicester Square and back, checked out some shops – Foyles Bookstore, Flying Tiger (which we saw in Amsterdam last year!) and more street performers!

…had Five Guys for dinner (Mummy had her fav. Pret A Manger)…

by the way did you know Five Guys has the best chips (or “fries”, depending on where you’re from)? Apparently cooked in peanut oil (sorry all you peanut intolerant peeps), and… they even have crates loads of ground nuts free for all – with a note however that says only for consumption within Five Guys restaurants only (yeah right!)…

At Tottenham Court Road
Where’s the 5th guy?

Lola’s 🙂

The next day was time to head home… it was a morning flight and because it took >1 hour to Heathrow we had to leave by 5am. At LHR it was pretty long walk from the main terminal (A gate to B38-B44). Take note the (newly renovated) SilverKris Lounge is closer to the B gate area and will take a good 15 mins walk at least from the main area!

Getting settled into SQ 305 for our flight back to SG.

Zoning out midway!
Gotta love the Christmas deco/holly decked out across the plane during Christmas time!

For now, we’re super glad to be home, thanks for joining us on this journey and Merry Christmas everyone from the Christmas Carnival @ Leicester Square!

Merry Christmas 2024!!!
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Sydney Nov 2024 (15th – 19th Nov)

#The Twins are back in Sydney!

Last day of school on 14th Nov 2024 where we head back for the penultimate time (prize-giving day, in anticipation to the final day on 20th Nov which would be release of the dreaded PSLE results! Yikes!)

With only 5 days to juggle with Daddy had planned for us to Scoot to Sydney to visit (after living in SYD for 2 years, we have actually not had the opportunity to go back until now) – so this would be our 1st trip back in 10 years! Whoa!

Believe it or not we’d actually not packed until getting home on Thursday afternoon, frantically chucking all our barang-barang into the suitcase (we only bought 1 check-in bag allowance of 20KG and managed to snag additional 5KG free) so that wasn’t very much after half of it was filled with stuff/gifts for friends.

Diggin’ the Hello Kitty 2024 Golden Jubilee Fest at Changi!

Our flight was TR2 scheduled for departure at 230am which unfortunately got delayed by an hour plus; it wasn’t until almost 4 in the morning that we had wheels up. We tried to get some shut eye given there was no IFE. We did prebook 2 meals (Nasi Lemak and Ginger Chicken with Rice) to share amongst the four of us but unfortunately we were already stuffed (after visiting the Plaza Premium Lounge at T1 – using Daddy and Mummy’s Priority Pass/Dragon Pass respectively), plus we were just too dead tired. The food didn’t look so good either, so we just took the drinks and candy through the flight to keep us perked! And by the way Daddy was a little unwell in the tummy the whole trip…

Despite the announcement over PA reminding pax to take note of boarding their respective boarding sequence, overall it was a hugely messy exercise with priority-boarding free for all – almost like a frag-fest rampage! So much for priority boarding (more like hoarding!)!

Still awake and wide-eyed!

[1:58am] All smiles – checkout Doc Brown at the back!
[3:13am] Still waiting…

Kind-deed Mummy decided to bless an uncle seated in front of him with one of the meals we didn’t eat. We also gave away another meal. And no, for avoidance of doubt it wasn’t to Doc Brown lurking at the back!

No drama getting into Kingsford Smith Airport Sydney (FYI did you know there are still curfews enforced in some AU airport, with no flights allowed to arrive/leave AU between 11pm-6am). Thankfully for the free forward seats we were allocated we were able to get to the immigration counters fairly quickly and ahead of the rest (on the flights, and other flights). Can you imagine with flight-bunching, many other airlines arrive around the same time! We even requested to have our passports stamped with the Aussie arrival chop – not so easy these days with electronic clearance rolled out to most airports! There was also quite a wait for the bags at the carousel but we made up for good time after being waved through without any bag checks (oh we did miss seeing the cutesy beagles sniff our bags as we saw in Perth last trip!). Collected our car from Avis where daddy got a free upgrade to a swanky BMW X3 despite having booked the smallest category Suzuki swift given his Avis President membership (thank you #Amex), which was  apparently the same car he got when he was there few months back in July!

SYD Airport!

Nice weather when we arrived. It was about a 45 min drive to Burwood, where we pretty much stayed at. Headed straight for Westfield and strolled K-Mart and Target before heading to Strathfield for Korean dinner with Gong Gong and Popo.

Day#1 – Koala Park Sanctuary – West Pennant Hills

Surprisingly the highlight wasn’t so much the Koala viewing and Kangaroo feeding, but our Cockatoo friend (checkout his funny antics!). He must have been craving much needed attention that he was trying to follow us when we were about to leave! He was always following us around and saying “Hello!”

Mummy Koa at Koala Park Sydney!

#Throwback to 10years back at Featherdale Wildlife Park Sydney – easily an hour North-West from Burwood which we didnt have time to do this trip, hence the closer option of Koala Park at Pennant Hills (30mins away) where we still get to see Koalas and Kangaroo. Lookit those cutie pies, both with headgear and without!

The OG Mummy Koa!
Wide-eyed Jo, after being the one sleeping last trip at Caversham Wildlife Park. Perth, WA.

Lunch at Pyrmont Fish Market! Daddy and Mummy’s go-to location for one-stop seafood each time!

Glorious seafood galore!

There was so much food there, and our favourite was the fish and chips!

SYD Pyrmont Fish Market
Glorious Seafood
Yums!

We also ate takoyaki with bonito flakes. Mmmmmm!

#throwback to Babypower 10years ago at SYD Fish Market, our fav one-stop seafood joint, *munch-munch*…

Sydney Opera House!

In the middle of the road outside Aunty Luan’s house in Killara!

SYD Harbour Bridge
SYD Opera House

Dinner with Gong Gong Popo and Aunty Luan at Ipoh Hawker (what was previously Sambal). After dinner, while mummy and daddy went to shop at Coles, we baked Black Forest cupcakes with Popo. (Chocolate cupcakes with cherry filling, whipped cream and a cherry on top)🍫🧁🍒

Day#2 – Cornerstone Church Eastwood

Old friends at Cornerstone Church Eastwood

Woolies at Marsfield after checking out our old house, look who we spotted!

Woolies!
Iguana!
Yikes!

Lunch at BBQ Wang at North Ryde – we had initially rendezvoused there in hopes to find an old Viet haunt we used to visit for rice paper rolls but found the new Korean joint instead which Daddy and Mummy said served even better food than Korea (yes they were in Seoul again just a week before SYD while we stayed home – thanks Gugu who stayed over with us during that time!). We all agreed that the food was excellent and wanted to go there again on Monday. However, little did we know that they would be closed on Monday. Boo-hoo, another hurrah another day!

BBQ Wang – the Wagyu Specialist!

We went to visit Rhodes Shopping Centre (lookit the playground we used to play at, Gugu says where only us Asian kids were the usual suspects frolicking around past 10 in the night when all other kids were already in bed by that time!) and then our house in SYD. Come to think about it, we really don’t remember anything much about our early life here though the waters seem to be a wee bit familiar now that Daddy mentioned he used to cycle around with us strapped in the back of the trailer!).

56 Walker St.
Rhodes Riverside

We were able to go in a take some photos – thanks to our gracious tenants!

Look at this blast from the past pic!

Peek-a-boo! OMG who are those little kiddos straddled at the back of the baby trailer?

Updated to recent year(s) [May 2019] – almost outgrowing the max weight supportable and working our old man really hard…

We managed to catch a game of mini-golf at Holey-Moley at North Strathfield.

Day#3 – More shopping (I was looking out for squishmallows)

Since it was daddy’s birthday and he was at work, we decided to surprise him by making a chocolate birthday cake with “magic” candles— they wouldn’t go out no matter how many times Daddy HUFFED and PUFFED. In the end, we had to use a wet towel to douse the flames.🔥

Burwood Chinatown!
Daddy’s Birthday!

Day#4 – finally time for us to head back to take our results!

Again another delay wherein we arrived back at 4am (originally scheduled for 3am!) after almost another hour’s delay (seems to be a trend here on TR flights hmmm….).

We head back in for some shuteye and then it was back to school (again!) for the final time to collect our results!

OMG so amazing Praise the Lord!

Both didi and I achieved AL4 and Distinctions on Higher Chinese which means we will be headed to our dream schools!

YAY! AWESOME!!! WOOHOOO!!!

With South View Primary School Form Teachers!
With South View Primary School Form Teachers!
TheJTwins rock PSLE both with AL4 and HDs on Higher Chinese! PTL!
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SQ PPS Movie Night 2024

So Daddy and Mummy get the yearly invite for a free movie night out courtesy of Singapore Airlines PPS Club, this year for a preview of Red One (having missed previous years’ – in 2023 it was Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom on 20th Dec which we missed as we were already on holiday). Jumping at the invite this year, they ditched us at home to binge-play our video games.

The event was again held at Golden Village Vivocity and food was catered for at the annex adjacent to the level 6 box office where apparently private events (birthday parties, corporate events) were usually held.

SQ PPS 2024 Movie Night – Red One

Daddy snaps up the pix (and food), and while there were heaps of delectable food and sweets, Mummy indulges in some bubbly, but the grownups quip that the satay wasn’t half as good as the on 40,000 feet up in the air. For some reason it just wasn’t the same. There was of course also the signature SQ laksa akin to the ones usually found at Silverkris (SKL) lounges.

SQ Satay!
SQ Laksa!
_cuva

There was a card which participants had to keep, to redeem their goodie bag after dinner, en route to the movie hall. Inside were some chips, bottled water and a pair of reusable shopping bags (how very thoughtful and practical indeed!). Before the movie, some SQ and Krishop/Pelago ads were aired adding to the touches which continue to make SQ a ‘Great Way to Fly’.

Overall a very nice touch by Singapore Airlines.

SQ PPS Club Movie Night 2024 – Goodie Bag.

Oh yes, disclaimer, both the red and Polo blue SQ bears are blasts from the past – they didnt come with the goodie bag (though Daddy wished otherwise!).

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Europe Dec 2023 (19th – 29th Dec)

Us kids had been waiting a super long time for this trip, first planned circa July in the year, finally the day arrived (more like night since we took a night flight out to get into Europe in the morning)!

Nice festive decor at Changi!

Soon it was departure time!

SQ324 from SIN to AMS.

Daddy get some serious Priority Passenger Service treatment!

Loot from our friends from SQ324!
Miffy from Amsterdam, Yoshi from Germany and the SQ bears from the kitchen!

Check out the SQ bears (chef edition, this time round we get both the boy and the girl versions!).

Flight time was 14 hours thereabouts headed from SIN to Amsterdam, but seemed a little shorter (13 hours from Paris back to SIN).
What do we do but the obvious!

Day 2

Hello Schiphol Airport!

Zaanse Schans village with traditional windmills, clog making and cheese making factory.

Miffy is from Holland!
Henry Willig Cheese

Clog Making at Volendam!

Madurodam, little miniature village with some rides and Dutch history.
Miffy! Did you know Miffy is Dutch!

Madurodam!

Pretty much hang around the Amsterdam main shopping belt around Dam Square.


Eagle-eyed Mummy spots Primark, her fav go-to in Europe! We have dinner near Dam Square after walking past some shops selling magic mushrooms (who thought there would be magic mushrooms outside of Super Mario Land!) and space cakes!

Dam Square, Amsterdam

Manneken Pis (yes like the little boy from Brussels) – voted #1 fries in Holland.

Who needs space cakes and magic mushroom when you have the best fries!

Day 3
We take it easy a little today since everyone was trying to adjust to local time, and after day yesterday!

We headed went back to the Dam Square and have some time shopping for souvenirs, tulips, clogs and the likes. There was the option to visit Anne Frank’s house which we passed on since tickets had to be prebooked ahead (The Diary of Anne Frank, which is apparently the most translated Dutch book in the world!).

Take a canal cruise and get off at Gassan Diamonds to visit the gallery. It was interesting to see intricate canal system and boat houses in Amsterdam.

Lunch at an Argentinian Steak house!
Pork Schnitzel Dinner!

Day 4
Today, we travel to the busy port town of Rotterdam. We see the De Verwoeste Stad, a sculpture by Ossip Zadkine which commemorates the bombing of Rotterdam during World War II, marvel at the innovative Cube Houses, a unique housing project that survived the war.

Next, visit Markthal Rotterdam, the country’s 1st covered market that features 96 fresh produce stalls and 20 hospitality and retail units on the 2 lowest floors. Designed by Dutch architects, this covered food market is shaped like a giant arch. A staircase in the centre of the market, named the Time Stairs, displays a permanent exhibition about the history of food and artefacts found during the excavation of the site. In the afternoon, we travel to Roermond designer outlet, close to the German border.

We spend a couple of hours there, had lunch and then drive a further 1.5hr to Cologne to see one of the most fascinating old towns in the country. We reach late in the evening and headed straight for dinner at a traditional German bierhaus (Didi says he has space cakes in Amsterdam and now beer in Germany – like Orion beer factory in Okinawa!) thereafter check in to our hotel, the Mercure Koln.

Okinawa, Japan (Dec 2015)

Day 5
The next morning we explore Koln town, mainly around Cologne Cathedral, a gem of Gothic architecture and one of Germany’s most visited landmarks. While Daddy, Mummy, Gugu, Yeh Yeh and Mah Mah (pretty much everyone else had been there in the past) it was the first time they were visiting around Christmas.

Lighting Candles inside Cologne Cathedral

There was a Christmas market adjacent to the cathedral, Weihnachtsmarkte Koln, bustling with stalls from souvenirs fashion and food for the last minute Christmas shopper. Daddy says the brats have bratwurst and crap (actually it was creppe!) and choco fondue and some warm ribena milk thingy which is supposedly warm wine which folks sip while strolling around the market (we find out they gave us the zero alcohol version but of course burps!). There was even a some stage performances. Really like pasar malam style…

Bratwursts!
Weihnachtsmarkte Koln Christmas Market

We turn travel 5 hours south-West towards Reims via the Belgian border. Mummy gives us 30mins game time during this time.

In the evening we went to another bierhaus. Even though Reims is in France it’s proximity to Germany meant we (oops the adults) would likely get some good beer!

Mummy wanted to get escargots but in the end we went with beef stew and more fish and chips, obviously with beer to boot!

Holiday Inn Reims, Germany

After dinner we took a stroll along the French Christmas market at Reims just a stone’s throw away from restaurant and our hotel.

The 3 Brasseurs Restaurant, Reims

Day 6
We headed out towards Epernay, Champagne region and visited Maison Mercier, one of the largest and longest Champagne houses (since 1858!) in France. We took a tour down into their cellars 30m below ground, and a 30min train ride around the sprawling 18km network of tunnels in the underground labyrinth. Whee!


Mummy bought some bubbly, her happy drink! We find out they are the same family as Dom Perignon, Moet Henessey, Krug having been acquired by LVMH since 1987. At 20 Euros a pop daddy had been mumbling the whole way to the airport we should’ve bought more!

2 hours later we get into Paris city.
We embarked on a city tour and immerse in some of the most iconic sights of this timeless city – Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees (shop dou nei sei) Boulevard and Eiffel Tower. Thereafter, we check out Fragonard Perfume Museum, one of the largest perfumeries in France, and indeed, it also happens to be an awesome place to purchase exclusive French scents that won’t break the bank. We get the best-selling Etoile (made of Ginger, Bergamot and Apple), Frivole and Diament. FYI #funfact, did you know that perfume came about because one of the French kings, King Louis XIV was so terrified to bathing they he forced court officials to create a new scent every week and said to spray his visitors with perfume upon entering his palace. He was said to have had only 2 baths in his adult life – both occasions recommended by his doctors! OMG… I don’t need to be a doctor to tell you bathing is good for you!

We walked towards the Louvre.

We spend the rest of the day at Galeries LaFayette where mummy gets a new bag as Christmas pressie!

Day 7 – Merry Christmas!
We hang out around Paris City on Christmas morning, and take a river cruise along the Seine. There is a point in which we see both the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty! The original apparently since the one in New York was a gift to America.

We go scouting for Chinese food after setting for McDonalds the night before!

French McDonalds party in our room!
La Fontaine de Jade, Paris

Day 8
Next morning we get up early to head to Paris Disneyland. We take the train past Gare du Nord to Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy station about 45 mins away. From there it was a short 2 min stroll to the gates of what was supposedly the happiest place on earth.

We have a super early breakkie but when we were about to leave, we spot Yeh Yeh, Mah Mah and Gugu having breakfast!

We skip the character meets and go straight to the rides. First up was Pirates of the Caribbean boat ride. All aboard! Ahoy mate and who do we see but Captain Jack Sparrows!

We find the Indiana Jones roller coaster ride. Mummy chickens out halfway in the queue and ditches us. We take the first car and daddy’s right behind. At the end of the ride we were blown away. Whoa this was our biggest roller coaster ride thus far!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Euro Disneyland!

Dumbo!

Main Street, Paris Disneyland


It was such a cold day to be out queuing for rides in the open, seems our old man caught a chill. At which point we thought it wouldn’t be worth queuing up anymore for rides so we paid for the Express/Fast Pass for the Buzz Lightyear ride, at 12 euros a pop per pax it seems OK to escape queuing in the cold. Poor Daddy. Slept like a log all day when we got home to nurse the cold.

So tired, and Daddy wanted to take an Uber back to the hotel, but turns out the metro ride took only an hour to get back to our hotel!

More Chinese Food!
Mercure Paris

Day 9
We head to the airport to catch our flight back from CDG TO SIN…

Merry Christmas 2023 from all of us!

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JJ in KL Jun 2023 (2019 reprise)

We check out from St. Regis at 2-ish, dashed home, repacked another set of clothes and we’re off again for a week on the road – a reprise of our roadtrip from June 2019!

We split this week into 2 segments, the first half in KL and the latter part in Klang so it made sense that while the first would be at Hilton Doubletree KL (revisiting this since our last visit pre-Covid 2019), the 2nd was Hilton Doubletree Shah Alam I-City, a fairly new Hilton property which opened just 2022. This comes highly recommended by Gugu J and Grandpa J who typically stay here when travelling here for work or to visit family given its location conveniently smacked in between KL and Klang.

We kickstart the trip with durian!

Nothing much has changed about the hotel.

Welcome by the standard DoubleTree Cookies!

Now you see it, now you don’t!

Lounging by the Executive Lounge at L34…

Settling into our room… Daddy adds on a rollaway bed which the were nice enough not to include in the final bill.

What’s a day out without Mummy’s homework!

Breakkie at Makan, most of the setup is identical to what we recall it to be, save for the new honeycomb!, green corner and Kidz corner (thankfully we didn’t see this previously lest Daddy make us sit there!). There’s also the live prata station that whips up a wicked prata.

Honeycomb!

And what’s a holiday without our usual prep time, and TV as reward! As if a deja vu we get so engrossed with TV and again miss the opportunity for a dip in the pool. You can checkout the pix from before, nothing much has changed on this front. 

We spent a lot of time on the 34th… 

Hilton DoubleTree Kuala Lumpur

After 3 days, its time to leave. We checkout at 3pm from KL and make our way to Klang/Shah Alam.

Interesting that the Doubletree Shah Alam is located adjacent to Wet World (or was it Water City) Shah Alam. Parts of it looks like Sunway Lagoon which we also wrote about back in 2019, OK maybe just a subset of it, and not as big.

In the absence of an exec lounge, there are welcome drinks and daily snacks/canapes at the Axis Lounge.

They upgrade us to a Deluxe Family Suite, but because this is a fairly new (small-ish) property there is no executive lounge, but in the absence of which, invite guests to the Axis Lounge for welcome drinks and light bites. Here’s also a nice gesture with welcome amenity. 

Back to Work!
Welcome Amenity!
Hilton DoubleTree Shah Alam

For the record, it wasn’t all work and no play!

There’s a fancy Games Room on Level 5, gym…

Books and fruit infused water
Didi having a crack at foosball against Yeh Yeh and I!

And an infinity-like pool!

We lap up breakkie and head to Kidzania. This was totally unplanned since we only considered Petrosains which we we planning to visit on Friday. Nonetheless Daddy found out that Kidzania had reopened which he thought surprising given the SG one shuttered indefinitely, so we check out tickets the night before. Note you get a discount for repurchasing this before 12pm the day which we unfortunately did not qualify for since we only booked it past dinner the night before. Anyway they’ve all gone cashless so remember to book out your tix ahead. There is also a pre-registration (uploading a selfie of oneself) prior to arriving at the gates.

We proceed with our check in and boarding passes were now in the form of wrist bands. Boarding was a breeze with the automated facial recognition.

Check-in
Boarding

Seems some of the store fronts have changed. Notable updates include A&W for McDonald’s (you do need to pay to ‘work’ there since you would get to keep the meal you whip up, comprising burger/hotdog, root beer and waffle ice-cream.

Here’s us enjoying the fruits of our labour… 

The others include:

1. F&B: Yayoi, Subway and Tealive. Daddy quipped ‘for the life of me can’t figure out if it’s pronounced Tea-live, or Tea-life’! Note Tealive (whatever and however its pronounced!) had the longest wait list so take note if you’re a fan of bubble tea and making your own bobas, do make sure you register early (yes as simple as rockin’ up and telling the kakak your name so she notes your name on the record). 

Well F&B here implies food outlets with a kid training centre and a separate food outlet operating at what Daddy says are astronomical prices! 

2. Non F&B – well Foodpanda has a delivery system which we enjoyed doing. Here’s a pic of us with Pao Pao. 

We didn’t realize the last trip that there was a parents lounge which our parents this trip took turns hiding at (grandpa and grandma pretty much camped there for most parts). 

Here are some of the other random pix..

Working at Foodpanda (with Pao Pao in the back!)

Didi doing his delivery rounds, part-timing as a housekeeper at the hotel, and moonlighting as a wannabe-magician at what must have been his favorite gig at Urbano’s Magic Shop.

Jie Jie at the florist, and her own delivery round.

At the hospital!

Some other miscellaneous jobs…

Daddy says he was on this radio station a couple of times previously…

Map of the park

Us in the prison, and the parade where we meet the mascot KZ, and a final family pix before we head out.

At the end of the day, we earn like $200 KZ Dollars between Jie Jie and I – the equivalent of 2 erasers which we redeemed! Life must be hard as an adult… working your butt off all day for a day’s wage which buys nothing more than an eraser…

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Bali, Indonesia (Jan 2023) – CNY

JJ in DPS 20th – 24th Jan 2023

So here we go again guys…

TheJTwins in Bali for Round#2.

So it must have been that Daddy and Mummy wanted to escape the harsh wintery cold in Korea from last month that they planned for a beach vacation in the tropics soon after!

Actually it appears Daddy, Grandpa and Gugu-J had it organized back in Oct so we have a little CNY get-together this year – a far cry from last year when borders were still shut, reunion dinner setup was 5-max per table, masks-on during Lo-Hei (how very odd and un-CNY-like!).

Well, no such problem now!

We get organized for an early pick up in the morning and JieJie and I hit the sack early the night before so we would all be bright eyed and bushy tailed.

#throwback to 2018 – our last trip to Bali.

No prizes for guessing where we’d be staying, we head back to the all-too-familiar Hilton Bali Nusa Dua, Benoa. Daddy and Mummy apparently had been to Bali few times (on one occasion whilst Gugu-J was here!) and prefer the Hilton over Marriot and Melia (all within the same Nusa Dua enclave). What better reason also since Grandpa-J is an ardent Hilton loyalist.

We arrive at Denpasar airport late morning and get picked up by the Hilton driver.

He spoke to Grandpa, Gugu and Daddy about some important (G20 back in Sep2022?) meeting recently in Bali when he drove some important people in his van (not in their ‘designated’ car codenamed ‘The B****’ flown in AF1/AF2 since that would have been way too obvious!). Daddy was apparently in the same seat as Mr. Joe (last name we won’t divulge!) We were obviously coaxed to take a pix!

Familiar surroundings…

Sprawling grounds and breath-taking backdrop amidst the Indian Ocean.

Buggy ride to the Nusa Dua lounge while waiting for the room to be ready.

 

Hanging out

 

Our originally booked Family King Deluxe which we camped out at for the first night.

We were subsequently upgraded to the Villas. Daddy says they must’ve been really kind (and hugely generous) since both rooms were accorded upgrades to the Villas, 5011 and 5012 both adjacent to each other (maybe thanks to Grandpa’s HH Diamond!).

There are even 2 outdoor showers! Like who would actually use one?

Buggy rides are cool but nothing beats the awesomeness of powering your own buggy!

On day 2, we drove to Ubud to see the Rice Fields
[Disclaimer: Rental car and obviously not the buggy].

Tegallalang Rice Terrace.

More pix…

Lunching mid-way at Ubud Swing restaurant before our almost 2 hour drive back to Nusa Dua.

While distance wise it was only some 40km away, the travel time was due to the narrow trunk roads cutting through different small segments of town (some were mainly making and selling rattan-ware/furniture, some glassware while others were peddling fruits/vegetables.

There’s still time to hit the beach before dinner.

CNY Reunion Dinner…

Playing pool after dinner – check out the original expert and her moves.

Early morning CNY Day CRABBING (originally planned for but dampened by the early morning downpour)…

We did head out eventually and (guess what?) rescued 2 fishes!

We did have a 2nd attempt at it the next morning, but unfortunately found nothing more than some nice(r) seashells. Thanks Gugu for being a sport and getting us up before 7!

CNY morning breakkie, thereafter more pool!

 

And remember the fishes at the lobby? Hello again!

CNY bai nian!

In the afternoon Yeh Yeh, Mah Mah, Gugu and Mummy head to the Mandara Spa while Daddy chaperone’s us… I think we had the better end of the stick, WOOO! BTW Daddy tries to coax us to go to the Jungle Kids Club! meh…

Jie Jie wanted to take this funny elephant looking water spout/tap…

While walking back to our villa, we spot an all too familiar face, oh hello! But look there’s an army of them! And they all look the same! Yikes! Beware the monkey troops have taken over!

Soon it was our final night (we call in dinner) and packed up for an early morning check out..

Rise and shine! Guess who’s the last to crawl out of bed?

Bags lined up for collection while we have breakkie at the Nusa Dua Lounge and waiting for our airport transfer.

Bags lined up for pickup!

See ya Bali, until the next round, Terima Kasih for yet another great trip, special shout out to Eka, Pak Bagus, Pak Kevin, Pak Ougy and Astuti for great service at Bali Hilton!

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Seoul, JeJu Island, Busan, Daegu, YongPyong – Korea (Dec 2022)

1st travel right out of COVID, and we head to K-Land!

(Daddy promised to writeup on our Cruise to Nowhere which he still hasnt! We were on the Royal Caribbean this time last year as a form of escape being the only place we could pack our overnighter and clear immigration while borders remained shut… yes, he’s been procrastinating but will hopefully get to it soon before our Bali 2023 trip over CNY!)

—

Back in July Daddy and Grandpa and were contemplating between Korea and Japan (which only announced full resumption of travel circa Oct) so it became fairly straightforward that it was back to Pororo Land once again!

As prep for the trip, Mummy lets us binge watch Crash Landing on You (CLOY) and Attorney Woo… tsk tsk tsk.

Headed to the airport for our red eye flight into Seoul, arrive in to a Incheon close to 7am the next morning.

Lounging in the lounge while Mummy the seamstress mends “someone’s” pants – de ja vu of a previous trip we had to sit put at the aiport while daddy had to literally run off to Changi City Point  to buy some new boots (since we had some old pairs ‘crocodile-mouth’ after having not worn them for some time)!

Jie Jie and I were hardly asleep for the entire duration of our flight save for the 40 winks we stole in between our dose of movies and game (Biobot some old school 2D Mario Style arcade game) – Daddy says we were at it again the entire flight back…

Domestic Flight from Gimpo (Kimpo domestic terminal) to Jeju.

Welcome to Jeju!

Daddy slurping up his Abalone seafood soup while we kids got our special He Bao Dan (sunny side up egg).

Tangerine farm! Last we were here it wasn’t snowing.

Not only was it not snowing last we were here, we even brought Mummy Koa along! This time she stayed home to guard the other stuffed Koalas.

Blast from the past (from 2014!) when the tangerines looked and definitely felt much bigger!

Then and now. 5 oranges per person but I think Daddy easily ate 15 before scouring for 5 to chuck into his basket!

ATV ride! Our first since the last we were here Daddy says the only thing we could ride was strapped to our storo (baby stoller!).

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MgeJtySdxgY

Here’s a pix of Jie Jie in her yellow helmet then and Didi lounging while waiting for the boys to finish their ride (Daddy and Yeh Yeh)!

 

At the pier in Jeju…

Catch another flight out from Jeju to Busan thereafter traveled by road to Daegu.

At the Inter-Burgo Hotel Daegu when we encounter the first snowfall in the trip when it starts snowing right after breakfast!

Busan Gamcheon Culture Vilage.

 

New soft toys!

Us mucking around in the snow.

Be careful Daddy says, ‘don’t eat the yellow snow!’…

Temperature was a biting -15 degrees C on average (real feel was closer to a frigid -20 when the winds came a blowing)…

Temperatures in Dec this time round seemed way colder then expected since the coldest months would typically be around Jan/Feb. In fact, Jeju airport was closed for 24hours with flights in/out cancelled due to heavy snowfall just 2 days after we left!

Onward to YongPyong (Pyongchang) where we revisited Dragon Valley Ski Resort, the original site of our 1st snowman, Snowy. And now behold the amazing, bigger better and colder yet Frosty.

 

Then and now…

Went up the cable car to the sky observatory,

Us skiing. Mummy skipping the skiing this round though still ranting about her last (mis)adventure heading up the slopes in the ski lift…

 

Lotte World.

Daddy says this is our 5th year back, unfortunately we didn’t get to go to the main entrance which we took the customary photo still in previous years but this is a close second.

Since we only had like 4 hours here today we managed to do only 2.5 rides (Wild Valley 4D ride which made Daddy green in the face (yeah he almost puked but was just trying to pull the usual strong-man ‘Dad persona he usually does. To his credit though we didn’t know it was going to be a 4D rickety rock-and-jerk-a-lot kinda ride until 5 min before we started (despite being in queue almost an hour!). Next ride was a ride out shoot out ride (Wild Dragon shooting Jo seems to recall,very similar to the Legoland car ride) except this was shooting dragons. FYI Mummy turned out the winner for this round. 2.5 rides since we were essentially in queue for bumper cars until we decided to give up and head back for the parade at 8. Not before trying out hands at the local claw machines which unfortunately yielded no prizes for us this night…

Adults lug heaps of shopping – ginseng, Oddbot soundalike Odbo and healthy liver.

Literally buying up a segment in the shop…

Playing game at hotel lobby past midnight. We absolutely love this hotel with the cute fella in the lobby (we reckon its the Novotel Ambassador Yongsan)…

 

And still playing game throughout the entire duration of our flight home.

Incheon airport Line Friends vs. Pink Fong.

Sorry din get to take the same shot with Line Friends (whom Daddy says is still there when he was here couple of weeks back, and yes lucky him stayed at Lotte World Hotel) since we’re on Asiana today and in a gate farther away from him).

Headed back on our return flight. Full 6 hour of no sleep! Every Daddy’s nightmare (not on the flight but when they start getting cranky at home!)…

Play play play from daylight to sundown (literally till landing in Singapore – check out the view from the window!) – the only time our masks come off and we’re off the screen are during meal times!

Merry Christmas 2022 to all!

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Royal Caribbean Cruise (to nowhere!) Nov 2021

Disclaimer: Daddy’s been kind of on our backs (does buggin’ count!) for some time now, wanting us to get back on track on bloggin’ our cruise trip from back in (Nov?) 2021! Truth is, Didi and I have written in part our drafts but Daddy seemed to have misplaced it! So bummer, its been > 2 years so suffice to say it would be quite challenging now having to write retrospectively…

Nonetheless here we go…

Its smack in the middle of COVID and borders have been shut circa 18months.

Most folks are now up to speed and onto their 2nd jabs yet still no signs of borders reopening.

Still amidst that comes a glimmer of hope for cross-border travel!

Royal Caribbean along with another liner announce a cruise-to-nowhere, or what Daddy says, the closest to getting on an airplane – complete with passport/immigration control.

Passports in hand (good thing we checked our passport which at that point in time was already growing mouldy though still valid!), so here we come!

Pre voyage day we had to prebook activities and dining options, and not forgetting select the check-in slot which ran hourly. We think apart from the cabin classes (first and suites), it was fastest fingers first (i.e. you’d need to log in to the RC app couple of weeks prior to departure to select your choice slot – obviously the earlier the better given most popular activities get fully booked early.

Recall we’re still knee-deep in COVID mode so passengers were advised to arrive an hour earlier prior to their (designated), or selected check-in slots for pre-departure ART tests.

Oh hello, Royal Caribbean, what a mighty grand lady of the seas, here we come!

Daddy reminiscing his sea-faring days on the other grand ol’ dame, now supposedly converted to a hotel!

We opted for self-park (flat circa $50 payable on exit via self-pay ticket, else you risk paying in excess of an astronomical $500! see below), thinking hey we might be nice and early – no crowds! Until we found out we had to find our way to the concourse “bag drop off area” + check-in, which was by which time overflowing with passengers…

There was a system where you would drop off your bags, wave goodbye until you see them onboard (we find out they would be tagged and delivered directly to our cabins).

Once bag-free we take the elevator up (for 3rd/4th floor, and make a bee line and wait in queue to get ART swabs shoved up our nostrils. Once done, wait at the holding area for about 45-60mins and wait for your COVID negative results to be sent via MOH SMS.

One done we could proceed to the boarding gate (so airport-like!) and clear immigration.

Daddy did have some issues getting through immigration but glad that he eventually did!

Phew.

Ahoy mate! We head for the gangway and make our merry way onboard!

There was a reminder on the pitfalls and woes of problematic gambling. Actually the ship was big enough to explore without even stumbling onto the casino (Daddy says its somewhere near the adults-only pool/Solarium so that’s obviously off-bounds for the kiddos) – this seemed to be the differentiating factor between Royal Caribbean and the other cruise operator we were initially contemplating between – the latter touted as a floating casino with peripheral activities rather than a family entertainment cruise with a casino as one of the entertainment options!

Oh p.s. pro tip was to get on the ship’s WIFI (which was possible as soon as you get quayside waiting for the ART work completed) as early as you could to book out dining and activity slots.

By the time we get onboard, we were greeted with our cabin keycards, and we make a dash for our cabin which was located in the forward section of the ship (we had to walk around orientation of the main deck en route…).

Final dash to #148 – a family balcony deluxe (sorry guys no fancy suites with fancy dining options – Daddy thought there were more than enough standard dining options anyways without the need therefore for further topups!).

Pretty snug. Nice and cozy 3-nighter for the rest of our cruise.

We make our way for an early dinner (the RC is still alongside the Cruise Terminal and scheduled to depart only around 8pm.

We wave goodbye to the mainland and soak in a beautiful Singapore night skyline…

Have a stroll around the mighty huge ship while eventually finding our way to what would have been touted the most popular activity onboard – ‘ Bumper Cars!’ in the entertainment hub – with Playstations, pool, ping pong tables, foos ball and housed the Hot Dog stand!

We come back to our cabin with a turn-down service! Haven’t seen this in a while for sure!

The morning after Day#1!

The next couple of days were just a flurry of eat, play, watch, eat, watch play and Repeat.

A couple of noteworthy activities include, but not in cascading order of fun:

1. Movie Screening (Tom and Jerry!)

Tom & Jerry screening at the cinema
Tom & Jerry screening at the cinema

2. Northstar – paid tour up the observation deck/crane (Didi was a little sick at this point!)

Northstar
Northstar
Northstar
Northstar
Northstar
View from Northstar
View from Northstar

3. iFLY by RipCord (checkout our separate post on this!)

4. Scavenger Hunt – some pix from this (and oh, by the way, we met our classmate Wei Zhe!)

5. Towel Making

Looks like an elephant!
Wait, is that a dinosaur?!

6. Origami Folding & Pop-up Card Making…

Pop-up Card Making
Our Pop-up Cards!

7. Bumper Cars (we hear the arena could intermittently be converted to a laser tag arena though we didn’t see this during the duration of our cruise).

8. Foosball and XBox mania!

9. Adventure Ocean Kids Club? *meh*

10. Table tennis, and of course more eating!

Other random pix – cool elevator, and more dining (WindJammer is by far our favorite and more popular as an all-day family dining option)…

On the final night Daddy and Mummy let us stay up later –

After dinner we head to the pool, couldn’t miss night swimming on a cruise (not many were there guess they had other stuff they wanted done before the cruise was over!)

Later in the evening we find out there was a Magic Show – Busters? He was quite a class act – juggling, balancing + juggling, and even had a sidekick Donkey who literally made an ass of him!?

The final morning we get up mighty early – apparently there were staggered check-out slots depending on cabin numbers (yeah right, more like cabin classes)… so we had an early breakkie and watch as our cruise ship glides back into the cruise terminal.

The whopping $514 parking fee had it not been for the park and sail coupon…

At the end of the day, keep calm and just smile!

Pix taken from balcony
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JJ at Legoland Hotel JB

Well it happens JJ’s favourite aunt – Gugu J manages to book out The elusive Ninjago Lloyd (aka Green Ninja) room on a mid-week Wednesday, so what d’ya know we pack our bags and head to the Legoland Malaysia Resort! BIG HURRAY for the HUGE Ninjago fans JJ are.

We have had the annual passes for some years but never actually utilised the discounted rates on Legoland Hotel so this was an opportune time to leverage the 20% discount on rooms.

Turns out we would be coming straight from KL the day before so when we got to the Legoland Hotel we were just yearning to stay in and rest. Alas while we really did just hibernate in the room, rest was elusive as there was just so much fanfare and excitement – the oohs and aahs from JJ the moment we stepped into the room, admiring the tastefully done Ninjago-themed decor (what else would you expect!), Legoland toiletries and amenities (!) , to getting thru the treasure hunt and eventually unlocking to secret chest to uncover our treasure!

Legoland Resort Malaysia Johor Bahru undergoing a facade face-lift.

Lobby/check-in with Lego Knights Castle (akin to Daddy J’s Black Knights Castle) and Pirate’s Ship play area!

The usual disco lights and music play go on when the elevator doors close – “Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you’re part of a team (by Tegan and Sara)”… different elevators have different themes ranging from Adventure, Pirates, Kingdom…

*Elevator dings* we’re at Level 5 and greeted by none other than Master Wu. Ninjago rooms share the same level as Pirates-themed rooms, which is also the same floor as the hotel pool.

Getting into our Lloyd-themed room…

Treasure hunt instructions laid out on the bed.

[Spoiler alert] Click here for the answers to unlock the treasure chest!

Lego-styled toiletries! Literally everything is AWESOME!

The pool which was virtually empty when we got there in the morning after brekkie. But then again, who would need a pool when you have the Legoland Water Park right at your doorstep! *Splash!*

We did head out eventually to the Legoland Theme Park for our regular dose of Ninjago ride (note Jon beat his record of 204,750 with full bragging rights to it!), dragon roller-coaster (Jo) and for dinner at the Medini Mall (we walked past the newly-opened Sealife aquarium)

There are nightly activities at the Lobby, ranging from movie nights to kids playing in the lego pits and running through the pirates ship deck or knight’s castle. That night we were there though, we enjoyed a little Hari Raya magic show! Kids were all in their PJs, literally wayyy past their bedtime!

The next day we just took it easy – having extended breakfast at the Bricks Family Restaurant (sprawling with KIDS!), playing video games at the Games console room and watching tele in the room before checking out at noon (note the hotel’s official check-in and checkout timings are 4pm/11am respectively).

 

After checkout we were deliberating between going into Legoland again or checking out the latest attraction (Sealife) – given it was sweltering hot then with the noon day sun blazing, it really did make more sense to do a look-see at the air-conditioned Sealife.

Sealife Malaysia officially opened its doors in May 2019 after almost a year in making since groundbreaking in August 2018. Legoland regulars would remember the works-in-progress through this time, the dust and temporary walkways from the open air carpark to the park entrance… but alas, this is all now behind us! Owned and operated by the UK-based Merlin Entertainment Group, the fresh-faced Sealife Malaysia joins a network of >50 other such aquariums/oceanariums around the world (Merlin is also synonymous with Madam Tussauds, Sydney Wildlife Zoo, among others).

In all, we spend slightly more than an hour, zipping* through the various exhibits but spent disproportionately most time at the life-sized aquarium screen – similar to whats now super popular at kids’ play areas and entertainment centers, the one at Sealife Malaysia though has individual screens (not just paper you colour on and snapshot with the digital projector) where kids (and adults too!) design their own sea-life and spawn them into the vast underwater world…. Daddy J himself gets creative with his zebra inspired starfish.

Kids to Daddy: How do you tell the difference between a zebra-striped Daddy and Mummy star fish?

Daddy J: Daddy starfishes are black with white stripes, but Mummy starfishes are white with black stripes

JJ: 🙂

 

*Note: the layout is cleverly designed over 3 levels of exhibits intertwined and accessed by steps (there were lotsa climbing up and down steps to the different floors. Not to worry though as there are also elevators to make accessibility easier!