Sydney Dec 2025 (17th – 27th Nov)

Day 1 – 17th Dec Wednesday
We touched down at around 8pm on Scoot- flight TR12 and I was really happy to be back in Sydney, When we landed we went through immigration and got an Aussie chop stamped on our passports yay. Then we headed to AVIS because daddy rented a car from them. The previous times, Avis always upgraded the car for us since daddy was a President Club member and he usually books the cheapest car lololol, but this time he got what he really booked for haha (well 3 levels upgrade got us a small SUV). He thought the car was really small but Mummy, Didi and I thought it looked okay. I honestly think the car was really pretty cos it was silver and the headrest had holes like a donut so since I had the passenger seat on the right I could stick my hand through the headrest to annoy the driver. hohoho merry early christmas!

SYD airport pix.

Lucky driver. I was so hungry because I didn’t eat much on the plane, just 3 really big lotus biscoff biscuits yay! We went to a McDonalds drivethru at Five Dock along Parramatta Road on the way to Burwood, then thought that we should eat in cos the maccas was really empty except for a group of young aussie teens laughing and laughing and laughing. We ordered an AUD40 family bundle because we have to spend wisely!! be a true Singaporean (ave. $16 for an individual meal – which is kinda pricey for Mcdonalds, probably cos of inflation) the preset option is 4 big macs, with 4 medium fries and 4 cokes(!). And thank goodness we realised we could change the options, because it was alr so late at night so if i chose to be a bigback and force myself to eat a gigantic beef burger with more than one patty, there’s gonna be obesity. Imagine all those millions of calories oh no i don’t want that. So yay i got myself the frank’s red hot Mccrispy burger, medium french fries and a medium hot chocolate to match with didi because I love matching (nah it’s to prevent him from getting fomo, I’m such a great sister, pat pat). Daddy, Mummy, Didi did get quarter pounders though, which is basically a big mac for people that don’t wanna be bigbacks and eat big macs. When i tasted the fries, it was a life changing moment, and I was glad that now I know why the Mcdonalds are so gigantic with big big kitchens, it’s not cos the workers are fat, it’s so they can fit extra salt because i think the aussie Mcdonalds workers love salt, that they just shower the fries in salt. after the first fry, I had to bounce the fries against the sides of the fries box to shake off the salt. The Mcdonalds hot chocolate was actually really great, not too milky. Definitely must have the next time I get maccas. After our very very late dinner, we drove to gong gong popo’s house in Burwood, Carilla street where we would be staying like our trip last year in 2024, that means more time together yippee! I reached my crying quota really quickly because well I am a very emotional person and I cry easily and also I love gong gong popo so much, they’re really sweet.

Day 2 – 18th Dec Thursday
Stayed in Burwood. Westfield Burwood – Coles, Woolies, Target, Kmart.
Dinner at Wang BBQ North Ryde.

Day 3 – 19th Dec Friday
Daddy went to office today so it was just us.
Evening we went to Rhodes Shopping Centre and checked out the outside of our apartment.
Dinner with Aunty Luan, Uncle Wayne and their family.

Day 4 – 20th Dec Saturday
Sydney Fish Market!
Lucky parking at York Street next to Westfield Sydney.
Supposedly World’s Largest Lego store in the world (everyone seems to be pitting against each other; wasn’t the largest at Leicester Square London – everyone claims to be the largest!)?

Walked to Haymarket.
Packed dinner from Chin Chin’s.

Day 5 – 21st Dec Sunday
Church at Eastwood Cornerstone.
Macquarie Centre – bought some Christmas pressies at BigW.

Dinner?

Day 6 – 22nd Dec Monday
Blue Mountain trip. Scenic World.

Map – 3 rides, Cableway, Skyway and Railway (legit the world’s steepest railway).

Checked into 3 Sister’s Motel!

Explored Woolies/Big-W and Target Express, dinner at RSL and sunset at Cahills Lookout!

Day 7 – 23rd Dec Tuesday
We’re leaving blue mountains!!! We eat breakfast and get ready before hopping in the car. We had a wonderful trip there, and we took many nice pictures while driving down. It was so high up, and we could feel the pressure building up in our ears!

Featherdale?

We stopped for lunch at DFO Homebush. First time trying “Oporto’s”, a fast food joint found all over Australia!!! It was quite boring as there were no fun shops like Hobbyco or EB Games. It was then when I suggested we go for Minigolf! We decided to go to City Gordon Minigolf, which was by the roadside (Holey Moley at Strathfield where we were at last year had unfortunately shuttered!). We had loads of fun, Jie Jie even did a hole in 1!!! But she almost overtook me (−_−;) In the end, I still won overall, getting the lowest score!!! Haha!!!

Before heading back we split up – Daddy and Jie Jie went to Coles to buy drinks/desert, while Mummy and I went to pack some Chinese takeway from one of the Chinese Restaurants at Burwood.

We had Adeline jiejie and her fiance come over for dinner that night. I think we had too much food on the table!

Day 8 – 24th Dec Wednesday
We woke up early to go to Uncle Darryl’s house, and he was an old primary school friend of Daddy’s. We had an Ang Mo breakfast of posciotto, biscuit sticks, ham, Camembert cheese, and yummy Schweppes. ( ̄▽ ̄)We played Ticket to ride Japan, which was a normal Ticket to Ride but with the Shinkansen bullet trains (like the one we took from Tokyo to Yokohama!). I lost boo boo hoo so sad (._.)
Anyway, we heard that Daddy and Uncle Darryl used to play real life street fighters after school!!! They would go to Uncle Darryl’s house and fight wow now we know what daddy used to do in his childhood haha. ╮( ̄▽ ̄””)╭ Then we went back to Burwood to rest for a short while before going to Parramatta Leagues Club for a nice free dinner with Uncle Liong Yu and Aunty Swee Lan. We had lobsters but I wasn’t so interested in that and I preferred the tofu. After 2 hours of the adults chittering chattering away, Jie Jie and I were very bored so we 2 started misbehaving haha and we messed up the carpeted floor real bad.

Jie Jie and me:
(=´∀`)人(´∀`=)
VS
Adults:
(−_−#) Σ(・□・;)

We heard a male waiter walk past and peep from the corner of his eye, before saying “糟糕”in Chinese which means oh no or crap. Well, I guess we were helping him indirectly as we kept him busy u know? ¯(ツ)/¯

Day 9 – 25th Dec Thursday
We went back to Eastwood Cornerstone Church for Christmas morning service – I swapped gifts on Pokemon Go with my childhood doc Dr Sidney.

For lunch we went back to Burwood and walked to Burwood Emerald Plaza for Yum Cha. The dim sum was meh.

For dinner we had family dinner with Aunty Joy and Pete.

Day 10 – 26th Dec Friday
Stayed in Burwood, Daddy had breakkie with friend and Mummy and Daddy picked up last minute shopping from Westfield Burwood.
AMEX lounge at Kingsford Smith Airport.

Hilton Orchard Singapore (Dec 2023)

Arriving home after CDG, YYMMGG check in to the Hilton Orchard to stay over for Christmas.

Yeh Yeh and Daddy checking us in (check-in could have been done at the Exec Lounge for Diamond but with it being on the 6th floor of the Mandarin Wing (a different lift lobby away!) it was quicker to check in at the main lobby. Facade looks familiar with a touch up on the main checkin area which is in the same part where the old Mandarin Orchard lobby used to be.

Our upgraded room @ 3638 at the far end.

We check out the Lounge after checkin. The pre-dinner spread was really good, akin to a full dinner outside!

Heading out with Yeh Yeh and Mah Mah to check out the Christmas lights along Orchard…

Merry Christmas!

Forest Adventure (10th Oct 2021)

Following on our series of what to do in the midst of COVID where we were exploring the to-dos in Singapore – Zoo, River Safari, iFLY, Forest Adventure and Sentosa(!) we head Eastward to an otherwise unfamiliar part of Singapore for us – Bedok Reservoir Park.

Forest Adventure has apparently been around for some time, and one of a few places with a kids’ (and adults) obstacle course, complete with a Zip Line (other than the Mega Bound, Climb and Zip in Sentosa, and I think a more recent (Hoobii Spot?) course right in the Zoo at Mandai (right next to the Ah Meng Memorial Garden if we recall correctly, having seen it on the tram ride back to the entrance from the Rainforest Kidz World).

The course is a bit of a walk from the carpark but not hard to spot!

We had pre-booked this the week before with raincover insurance (enabling rebooking of slots in the event of inclement weather!).

Given this was still COVID era, we had to don our masks and keep a (1m?) distance (social distancing!) away from each other. Soon we get kitted up and sit (rather stand) through a basic induction session which included safety do’s and don’ts and how to clip our safety carabiners strapped one end of our harnesses to the safety line on the other. After walking the plank on the safety course we were really to embark on the higher levels!

Jie Jie and I do really well on the different levels!

The brave Js conquering Level 2 and proceeding to the 3rd Level!

Note we are avid fans of Ultimate Beastmaster which we binge-watched with Daddy the couch potato during circuit breaker!

Completing the course via a zip line to the finish line!

Nook @ 15 Stamford

Nook – 15 Stamford, Capitol Kempinski

To many hours spent hosting!

One for the record on 30th Dec 2020, the final day of operation…

We do miss thee little Nook,
Many hours with Daddy over a game of castle and rook,
While Jo and Mommy with a drink and a good book,
Now that you seem off the hook,
Oh Nook, where for thou art we still look.