TO MARKET, TO MARKET, TO BUY A FAT PIG... (15 OCT 2006)

Yesterday, I got up bright and early, shortly after Daddy and Mummy returned from work in the dead of the night. Whilst Daddy and Mummy were fast asleep, I accompanied Ah Gong and Ah Ma to the wet markets at Farrer Road and Ghim Moh.

Ah Gong walked me through the markets, showing me things at the different stalls. I saw lots of colourful fruits and vegetables, fresh meat and fish. I was fascinated by the colours and smells as well as the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. Many stallholders were in turn fascinated by my rosy cheeks and they kept asking Ah Gong where I was from. They were all surprised to hear that I was 100% Singaporean. We met Laoyi (Ah Ma's older sister) at the market too and she took me shopping with her. I enjoyed my trip to the wet market a lot.

When we got home, I was in high spirits. I was jumping about the Games Room when Mummy entered. I started saying: "Human Skeletal Systems. Femur. Tibia. Spinal Cord. Skull..." Mummy was amused that I could say all that and she flashed me a "Mona Lisa smile".

Although I only started cooing and babbling at 10 mths old, a verbal explosion took place in me after I turned 1 yr old and I started to read and talk. For several months now (I'm currently 1 yr 10 mths old), I've been speaking in complete sentences. For Mummies with lil ones who're late talkers, don't worry too much. Mummy used to worry all day long that I was mute, even though the pediatrician didn't think so. Mummy remembers one of my first sentences a few months ago as "I use chopsticks to eat the tofu." Just today, I said "The ant is pushing a trolley." I enjoy making up stories, just like Mummy when she was a little girl.

Last night, Daddy was featured on Channel News Asia. There was a story on mega vs small dance clubs in Singapore. He didn't shave and an excited friend who saw him on tv described him as looking like an old, Chinese drum major from an opera troupe. Basically, he looked like the kopitiam man... (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/235641/1/.html)

SICK AS A DOG (9 OCT 2006)

Daddy was in a really bad mood this morning when he came home. An Indian man smashed a window of the club late last night. DJ Dan Storey saw the man and his group of friends fleeing, and he immediately rang Daddy. By the time Daddy rushed to the club, the man had already disappeared into the night. Daddy called the police, who took 45 mins to arrive at the scene and were very unhelpful when they came. The long and short of it all is that they will not be looking for the culprit. They said that if we were to see him, we should alert them.

When Daddy saw me this morning, I was holding a fridge magnet in the shape of a weighing scale. Daddy asked me what it was and I told him that it was a "Weighing scale". Daddy then asked me what a weighing scale is used for. I put the magnet on the floor and tried to stand on it, but it was too small. Only my 2 big toes could fit on it. Daddy laughed and his mood lifted a little.

I have a fever and cough, so I've been feeling rather irritable and miserable. I really hope to get well soon so Mummy and Daddy can take me somewhere interesting again! Meanwhile, here're some pictures of a sick me wallowing in self-pity...

MY TRIP TO DESARU

4 Oct 2006 (Wednesday)

1.30 pm: I've been to Desaru twice before, but my hardworking Ah Ma didn't get to come with me on those occasions because she had to be at work. Since she came home fairly early today, Mummy thought it would be a good chance for all of us to head up to Desaru together. Mummy dragged Daddy out of bed, Ah Ma gobbled down her lunch hastily and Lis packed my bag of beach things quickly so we could leave as soon as possible.

2.45 pm: Off we went! There were more cars at the Woodlands checkpoint today, but it didn't take us long to clear customs. The traffic in Johor Bahru ("JB") was bad and we inched our way to the World's Slowest Macs so Daddy could get some food.

3.30 pm: Daddy bought a Spicy Beef Foldover, 2 packets of chicken nuggets, 2 ice cream sundaes, fries and coke from Macs. As expected, the service was slow. We pigged out in the car as Daddy drove towards Desaru. The landscape was nothing new to me - plantations and more plantations, and the occasional road kill. We saw the carcass of a headless racoon (the poor animal had a long tail and striped grey coat) and a few other squashed up bodies.

5.00 pm: We arrived at Desaru. As usual, we parked our car at the Golden Beach Resort. It was very quiet there today. There was a little girl swimming in the pool and there was us (the shameless, non-paying customers).

It was high tide and the waves were pretty big and strong. It seems to me that the sand had consistently been washed out to sea. The first time I was in Desaru several months back, the beach was flat. Now, there's a big drop before it is flat again. A lot of sand has been eaten up by the sea.

I played a little in the water, but it didn't seem as fun with the waves pulling me out dangerously. I preferred to play with the sand instead. Daddy dug a big hole with my spade and he put me inside the hole! He tried to build sandcastles, but I kept destroying them. Poor Daddy!
6.00 pm: The sun would be going down soon, so we decided to wash up and drive back to JB. We didn't relish the idea of driving in darkness, as the road back would not have street lamps. We washed up at the resort and off we went again. Just outside the resort, we saw a whole bunch of monkeys. One came right up to the car and I said "Hello" to it.

8.00 pm: We arrived at Danga Bay, JB for dinner. Daddy heard from a Malaysian friend that it's a safe neighbourhood, and that the views were nice. It was too dark to see the view, but it seemed like JB's version of One Fullerton.

We found a Chinese restaurant called Danga Palace and decided to dine there. The prices were reasonable, so Daddy ordered a lot of food. We had 2 kinds of soup - hot and sour and century egg with spinach. We had jackfruit chicken, chilli crab with fried mantou, curry prawns, deep-fried dough fritters with mayo, 2 kinds of vegetables - french beans with minced chicken and garlic kailan, and fried rice. We also had 3 kinds of dessert - peanut muachee, guilinggao and almond jelly with longan. The almond jelly was only RM8 (less than S$4), a classy restaurant with food court prices! The total bill came up to RM250, and Daddy was satisfied.

9.45 pm: By the time we were done with dinner, it was my bed time. There was a big pasar malam just down the road from the restaurant, but Daddy said we'd have to visit it another time. At the customs on the way home, it was bumper to bumper traffic and we were caught in the jam for about an hour. Beggars on crutches stood by the cars to ask for money. That was my last glimpse of JB.

11.15 pm: Home sweet home.