I want to be a Policeman workshop

Comes every June holidays, the museums in Singapore would launch their Children's Season featuring many different activities, free and chargeable for some, in all the museums. This is to allow children in Singapore to know history of Singapore and also learn things while they are on school holidays.

This particular one organised by the Police Heritage center had been running for the 2nd time this year and am looking forward so much to it this time. Last year, I tried to enrol for my 2 children but was informed that it's full. So this year,  I emailed them the moment I know about this Children's season. And finally got 3 places for my 3 children, on the next day after our holiday!

But but but... I was really disappointed about it... 

Firstly,  the organiser should have informed parents where exactly is the location and to let us know to park our car at nearby car parks as there's no available car parks for visitors! 

Secondly, the person bringing us around was sooo fast in getting through the introduction and history of the police force in Singapore! (Sorry, but I also wondered why the person showing us around is a Caucasian! Am not being racist here, but I just thought the kids may not be able to follow through especially with his accent and he really seems to be in a rush!). 

Thirdly, the photo session  was sooo brief and pathetic!!!! We were brought and left in a room filled with chairs and some kids size tops, no bottoms and very very limited police hats!!! And there were like 20 children around, with just 3-5 hats around! No available background for us to take proper photos. See the photo of my 3 children, we can only take half body shot photo against the white wall!!! Sad... 

Fourthly, the 2nd floor show around area, or rather should be the police museum, has lots of information and photos showing the history of the police force here but we were not allowed in again and slowly read and take photos on but just the 20 mins during the show and tell earlier... such a waste of information!!!

Red yeast chicken dumpling

This year, I decided to have a hand on wrapping dumplings!!! But not making the traditional with pork and black in color... decided to make dumplings with the red yeast wine I made!!! Cos last year, hubby went to order some from Good Wood Park hotel, the Chinese restaurant, it was really expensive!!! So I thought to give it a try this year... 

The ingredients were pretty easy, glutinous rice pre fried, chicken cooked in red yeast wine residue, pre fried chinese mushrooms and hubby asked to put in quail eggs!

Here's my set up... hahaha... 

Finished products before 3 hours cooking in water...

Medium fire boiling process so as the dumplings will not open up!

Ta-da... my finished product ready for trying!!!  And am really disappointed!!! Not very tasty and the chicken was really tasteless!!! No taste of the red yeast at all... And the rice was bland... though well cooked! Haha... good try but I guess will need lots of adjusting of the ingredients and cooking method!!!

Our first DIY self drive tour at Ipoh/Cameron Highlands (5D/4N) -- Day 5

 Finally, we have reached our last day in Ipoh... And decided to skip the buffet breakfast included by the hotel, to go for this famous Big Tree Yong Tau Hu here in Ipoh!!!  We got up really early, as we need to allocate time to get ready and reach the Railway station in time to return our rented car!!

Lucky for us, seems like this place had recently been refurnished into a cleaner food court!

    Besides the famous store, they had included many different stores... Impressive!! But we were too early, so only a few stores were open...

  



    

    As usual, my boy and his cars.... So long these can keep him happy and quiet while we take our meals, am happy... :p

We have got a table full of food... hahaha... And daddy ordered a chicken curry chee cheong fun to try!  Some thing new... 

My son was really funny here... Half way while eating, he suddenly got up and went straight to the store and grab the item he wanna eat!!!  WL quickly got up and ran to him, asking what was he doing?!?!... Hahaha... He must have thought this is a buffet food court for him to grab the food he likes and head back to his seat and enjoy!!!  Hahaha... ok, too much buffet for my kids?!?!... :p

After our breakfast, we decided to go and pack our baked salted chicken and head to the Railway station... BUT, WL saw this Funny Mountain beancurd store was open!!!  So, he quickly find a parking lot and went to buy the famous bean curd!!!

See who's been here before!!!! Our Singapore artists!!!

Sad to say, we need to wait for another 30mins before the bean curd arrives... So, while waiting, I activated my hubby to go the Kaya puffs store, which is about 4-5 stores away, and buy 2 more boxes to bring back to Singapore!! Hahahaha... So happy to be able to grab all these last minutes goodies back home!!

    While waiting for the lady to come and collect the key and the rented car, we decided to enjoy our beancurd!!!  Yummy.... It was really soft and nice... 

                                 

                                     

Time to get onto the train to start our LONG journey home... First try for the kids to take a train back home... Can you guess how long would this train take to bring us back to Singapore?!?!... 10 hours!!!  Are you ready!??!...

Comfortable seated... with air con and big leg space... and some 'scenary'... hahaha...

Our hungry daddy, can't wait to try the Kaya he got from Old Town... 

My boy with his chocolate donut he got from Aeon Mall last night...

                                   

My 2 children with their snacks and handphone games...

                                   

Just next to our cabin, is the canteen cabin... serving food throughout the journey...

The children and daddy enjoying their nasi lemak and fried rice in the canteen...

A visit to the toilets on the train... hahaha...

Finally.... Finished my entries for our June trip!!!  We did alot of things during this trip, self drive is a big thing for me!! Cause I hate to do DIY trips... though we can have more time at the sightseeing places, but there are many things which are unknown to me... 

Our first DIY self drive tour at Ipoh/Cameron Highlands (5D/4N) -- Day 4

Our stay at Ipoh is inclusive of breakfast... SO, our first breakfast to be taken at the Hotel throughout our trip!!!  As usual, my baby with his car on any dining table!!  Jie jie and kor kor with their cornflakes!!  Typical breakfast found in hotels... happy and full before we start our own walk around in the town!!

This is the main entrance of our hotel @ Ipoh... A very new, comfortable and affordable place to stay in... and I must say, we like the convenience of a mall just next to our hotel lobby... but there is no supermarket in this mall!!! How sad is this... haha... But with the restaurants and small cafes there, I guess one won't go hungry?!?!... :p

Our first place to visit was the Funny beancurd, BUT it was not open when we arrived!!!  Initially we thought it was not opened yet, as it was like 9 something, close to 10 when we reached...  And WL remembered there's a Kaya puff bakery nearby, upon my GPS search, it's just the shop house in front of our car park!! So off we went... & ta-da... this is it!!! Hahaha...  We only saw a long queue outside of the store and reckon this must be the place for the famous kaya puffs!!!

Spot me in the Queue? Hahaha... I was lucky as there were 3 aunties who left after about 10 mins of queuing... reason being, the queue does not move!!! Hahaha... We were practically waiting for the puffs to be out from the oven!!! And each tray can fetch about 7-8 boxes (each box containing 10 puffs)... And there was a lady in the queue getting 3-4 boxes!! So can you imagine how long you got to wait IF 2 customers ordering 5 boxes each!??!... hahaha... Anyway, we have a whole day to waste, so I insisted on queuing for it, have a try and decide if it's really worth the wait!!! :P

Our next stop was the coffeeshop famous for it's Ipoh White Coffee and kaya roti!!  BUT, there was not a single parking lot available!  So, my hubby had his voice control on... "U get down to buy take away!" & off I went!!! Hahaha... Sorry, I didn't get to take a pic of the scene in the shop, cos it's really crowded and hot and every eyes were on ME cos am the only one walking around in the shop! I ordered 2 hot white kopi & 4 sets of kaya roti & decided to buy a small bottle of the kaya back home too!! :p

In the car, we decided to open up our kaya puff to enjoy... :p

My girl super likes it!!! Had 2 pieces at a go!!! It's really yummy, puffy and not too sweet!!! NICE! :p

Our hotel reception passed us a Mural art expedition brochure yesterday while hubby try to get more info on where to eat and what to do in Ipoh... Since we got nothing to do, we thought to drive around to look for them... and I can tell you, it's a real TOUGH job!!!  Lucky I still have my GPS with me...

The HUMMINGBIRD....

This should be the EVOLUTION...

GIRL with the bird cage!

A tiny map showing where are all the Mural arts...

The KOPI-O...

The OLD UNCLE WITH COFFEE CUP...

Jiejie & Xiao-Jie decided to take a shot with the UNCLE with his kopi cup while waiting for daddy to shift the car into a correct parking lot!!! Hahaha...

                                   

PAPER PLANE...

TRISHAW...

Alright, the search for the Mural art was FUN... lucky for us to have a rented car... it's so much more convenient to move around in our neighbouring country with a car... And my kids were in the comfy of the air-con and FOOD... so not much grumbling... except arguing along the way... And, I need to get my fix on SHOPPING... So, GPS my nearest Aeon mall so I can have my fix and we can have our meals!! Hahaha...  So off we went to this BIG Aeon mall... I really got no idea how far are we from our hotel and where is this Aeon... but so long we are in a BIG mall, am happy... :>

My baby with his CARS... and even with those cars on display for sales purpose does not dampened his mood to have a pic next to them!! Hahaha... Yes, he did insist on getting into one... but I told him, it's for sales and he's not allowed into any of them...

Yes, this scooter is another victim!!  It was on display with the mannequin in a fashion shop.. hahaha...

After some shopping, we went in to check out the rates of a ticket for a movie and guess what?!?!... We can catch our Jurassic World first hand here in Ipoh!!! It's supposed to have it's first sneak previews on Thursdays, but they have it available at night for Wednesday!!! So, I told hubby to just grab the tic as it's really cheap with the super high exchange rates now... and so, we went for our early dinner and follow by our movie!! Hahaha...

Our comfort food... my kids favourite, wantan noodles and porridge!! And we decided to have a try on their special dumpling!!

 Hahaha... Another selfie of US... Ok, time to confess... We took this as I was really impressed with all the Bags made out of a pair of JEANS!! Maybe I should start working on one of my old pair of jeans and put it in better use than to store in my storage bag!!

Decided to take a shot of the movie display we were going to catch!!!  And my baby was hiding behind my back... 

Very happy to be able to catch the latest movie with a fraction of the price we would be paying if our whole family were to catch it in Singapore... The seats were really big... my baby was sleeping thru the first half the movie and got up in time to watch the action packed 2nd half!! And by the time we are done and back to our hotel, it was abt 10:30pm!! A fully packed day and need to pack for our return trip tomorrow!!! :D