A Holiday Within the City

When you want a short holiday but dont want the hassle of planning or travelling, one of the easiest option is to just check into a local hotel. And that's just what we did.

Lord Gaga and I packed and overnighter bag. But for Baby A, we had to pack the travel cot, feeding bottles, steriliser, milk, clothes, lotsa diapers, her toiletteries, toys, usual diaper bag and everything to do with travelling with a baby.

With everything finally packed, we checked into the Le Meridien at KL Sentral.

This was another free trip as I had a voucher from my Starwood Club membership that was expiring soon.

The standard room.

After checking in, we went to Latest Recipe, the hotel's coffee house for lunch. I had the fish & chips which was the chef's recommendation. It was surprisingly excellent! The batter was light and fried to a crisp and the fish within was yummy, light and flaky. And to complement and excellent simple dish, tere was ketchup, chilli sauce, tartar sauce and even malted vinegar. Brilliant!

Lord Gaga had his usual (where ever we go) which was the char kway teow. This was so-so, From experience, the best char kway teows can only be found in the hottest, sweatiest coffee shops. Apart from the one at Champs which is by far Lord Gaga's favourite. But at RM20 a plate, we can't be eating there too often.

The key to taking a holiday in your own city is not to leave the hotel but instead enjoy all the facilities and amenities it has to offer. So the folllowing day, we went back to the coffee house, but this time, for their buffet. Chocolate fountains are a must at any good hotel buffet. So after about 5 rounds of Chinese, Indian, Japanese and a mish mash of other offerings, I had chocolate coated marshmallows, grapes & strawberries. And then had some fun with the remaining chocolate. I like playing with my food but I better stop soo less Baby A picks it up too.

They also had tepanyaki ice cream. No it's not fried and it's nothing like fried ice cream. Instead, you pick a few different flavours and a variety of toppings. Then the server will put at all on a chopping board and chop everything up using a tepanyaki spatula. The result : a gray coloured goo (if u choose chocolate and green tea flavours) with black and colourful dots (if u choose rainbow sprinkles and chocolate chips). I didn't take a pic cos it doesn't look appealing. Come to think of it, it didn't taste too appealing either. Perhaps it was my choice of flavour combination.

After fussing for a bit and after being fed, Baby A was such a good girl and slept while we enjoyed the buffet spread.

After a good meal, a nie stroll helps the food go down so we went to chill at the hotel pool.

Baby A was certanly having fun.

Another holiday for Baby A!

Our First Family Holiday

How excellent! I got offered a 5 day stay at Marriot Phuket by a friend. And it was absolutely free! Since the offer was valid till end Oct and I'm still on maternity leave, it was the perfect time to go on holiday.

So along with Lord Gaga and Michelle Who Stays on the Seashore, we brought baby Aydreanne on her first trip. An overseas on too. Such a lucky girl.

We were initially slightly worried about travelling with an infant, especially one who is only 2 months and a bit. Spoke to many well seasoned parents and called up MAS to ask them what travelling with an infant entails. And off we went!

I've been told babies may be affected by the air pressure and their ears will hurt. So I constantly kept her breast feeding while on the plane. The sucking and swallowing ensured that the pressure in the ears were kept in balance. It worked and there was not a peep from her throughout the flight. In fact, she slept almost all the way. For mums travlling with very young babies but are not breasr feeding, try giving your baby a pacifier. That should have the same effect.

There are perks to travelling with an infant - priority seating and 90% off the full fare!

We arrived at the hotel and the resort picked us up and brought us to our beautiful villa. Here's the shot in the garden of the villa upon our arrival.

And this is the lane leading to the back of the villa. We got the garden villa with a plunge pool.

Mel is posing with the elephant made out of towels. The housekeeping department here is creative. And I love the little details and touches the put in all corners of the villa.

This is the hall. It's huge! Lord Gaga is checking out the place.

And the dining room with a table that seats 6.

The guest room with 2 very comfortable double beds.

And this is the master bedroom.

Check out the bathroom! I had a few luxurious bubble baths in there.

And the resort pool.

One of the best thing about Thai holidays and staying in hotels is their buffet breakfast. Always plenty of crispy bacon. And we certainly ate our money's worth. Malaysian Chinese are so pork deprived!

Aydreanne and I about to take a dip in the plunge pool.

Aydreanne and I going for a walk just outside the resort to Turtle Village.

Aydreanne feeling lonesome in her stroller while the 3 adults had a hearty lunch.

Me wearing Aydreanne's tiny hat.

The sundae from Swensens called Little Prince, consisting of or favourite Sticky Chewy Chocolate.

Aydreanne is happy and having a great holiday!

It was monsoon season while we were there but was lucky because it rained only on the last day of our trip. So before that, we took the complementary buggy to the beach which was about 5 mins drive away. The sea was rough so we just sat on the beach and let Aydreanne's feet touch the sand and water.

A cute lil frog in the garden, seeking shelter from the rain.

At Phuket airport about to head back to KL. We stopped for breakfast at Burger King.

And of course had another dose of bacon.

Aydreanne says "Don't disturb me. I'm in a foul mood cos the holiday is ending".

The resort was excellent. Service was impeccable as it's well known among the Thais. And the hotel was very baby friendly. With a concept similar to Club Med with the many activities for all ages and the baby sitting service, but with the 'highend-ness' of the Marriot name, it's certainly a resort I'd recommend to families.

4 Questions

You know those emails where friends send them to you and you’re supposed to fill in the answers about yourself and send it back to the friend who sent it to you and also other friends?

Well, Looqy sent one such mail to me today. And I promised that I’ll reply as the poor girl is writing a 30 page for her final thesis and wants some distraction. Well at least u’ll be graduating after this, girl!

And I thought I’d post the answers here so that if such an email comes around again, I can just refer them to this post instead of writing it again. Hehe!

For you Looqy!

Four jobs I have had in my life:

I’ve probably had 10 jobs with different job scopes since I started working when I was 15 but here are some you may not know about:

1. Banquet staff at Pan Pac Hotel. My first job albeit part time. I was 15. But I quit after 3 days cos there was zero training. A guest asked for red cut chillis and when I went into the kitchen to ask where I could find chilli, they directed me to another floor and I ended up in a dark attic-like room. They didn’t even teach us the basic of serving using the big spoon and fork like how some waiters do so professionally even for slippery noodles.

2. TGIF Smiling People Greeter (Yes the acronym is SPG). I was 18 and worked there after college. But spent all by money on the cab fare there and back.

3. Tumble Tots Child Coordinator. Yes! I’m sure most people don’t know about this or if they do, they won’t believe it. Bubbles with kids and babies?!! That can’t be right. But it is. I can’t believe I lasted 3 months in the job.

4. When I was 10, I ran away to the circus and in return, I got food and lodging in a caravan. I dressed up in a fancy costume and paraded round the circus ring at the end of each show. Yes this was in Malaysia so don’t think that this only happens in western countries. Hehehe,

Four Places I have lived:

1. Malaysia. Grew up in SS2, went to school in JB, then back to KL for college, went off to uni and my year out and I’ve been back ever since.

2. Singapore. Life in JB for a teenage really isn’t much fun so I spent most of my time in Singapore every moment when I wasn’t in school. I almost studied in Ngee Ann Poly till my dad vetoed my decisions and made me do A Levels in Taylor’s College in KL.

3. London. That’s where I did my uni. Lived in Hendon but spent most of my time in Bayswater, Leicecter Square, Covent Garden, Bristol and Windsor.

4. Barbados. This is where I spent my year out. All I did was drink rum, surf, tan, drink rum, dance under the stars, drink rum, go catamaraning, drink rum ……… all year long.

Four Places I have been on vacation:

1. The UK- London. Cornwall. Lake District. Oxford. Warwick. Cardiff. Swansea. Edinburgh. Birmingham. Manchester. Bristol. Nottingham. Stoke-on-Trent. Luton. Stockton-on-Tees. York. Brighton. Blackpool. Windsor.

2. Amsterdam. This was the only place I traveled to out of the UK when I was studying. Yes it may have been cheaper to travel with London as a base but I was also a poor student. The most interesting thing found out about Amsterdam is that the green stuff that they’re so famous for, isn’t actually legal. But the cops let u do it anyway.

3. Germany. A German friend who was working in KL was going back home. So a friend and I thought we’ll send him off, all the way to Germany. And along the way, we holidays in Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Trier and Nuschwanstein.

4. The Middle East, in May this year to visit my mum.

Four of my favorite foods:

1. Fried rice. All types - with salted fish, petai, ikan bilis, luncheon meat, bacon, egg, garlic.

2. Bacon sandwich.

3. Deep fried fish with raw diced garlic and chilli padi along with other dishes in this coffee shop called Lucky Loke in SS3.

4. Steak in Oggi’s in the old Regent Hotel.

5. Crème Brulle in Marche in Rennaissance Hotel

Okay I know that that’s 5 but I’m Malaysian! You can expect me to choose just 4. There’s also pizza, pasta, bak kut the, hokkien mee, fried wan tan, yaw char kwai ……..

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. In bed. I’m reading 2 books now and I wanna finish both so I can start on a new one.

2. Traipsing over Europe - sipping coffee in one of their sidewalk cafes (Just like your answers Looqy!)

3. Diving and sun tanning in the Caribbean.

4. Reading a book and getting a tan in Hyde Park, London

Hope u had fun reading. Now go nail that paper girl!

PS I miss ya!