The buggy generation

Read to the end to find out what this post is REALLY about.

A couple of weeks ago, my church organised its once-in-two-years church camp. Traditionally, the June hols are when churches hold their church camps and mine is no different. Since Andre's poly holidays didn't coincide with that week, he had to stay home and Kenneth decided to stay with him.

So it was an all-girl trip for us - me, Lesley-Anne and my sister. We had such an enriching and blessed time together. Our speaker was Pastor Edmund Chan who started the annual IDMC Conference. He's such a spirit-led and charismatic speaker. Apparently, our church booked him four years in advance, that's how popular a speaker he is!

Our church camp was held at AVANI Sepang Goldcoast Resort, an hour drive from KL. The resort is gorgeous - it's like something out of the Maldives (but closer to home and cheaper!). It's really an ideal place for a retreat. It's quiet with a fabulous beach. For a small fee, you can take part in unlimited sea sports, like jet-skiing.

Infinity pool

For families, there are luxurious family villas that sleep four with two separate rooms and two bathrooms! Lesley-Anne and I were booked in a superior villa (sleeps two). All the villas have a balcony that looks out to the sea.

The only drawback is that due to the size of the resort (the villas are very spread out), depending on where your villa is, you can be quite far from the lobby/main entrance area, which was where we had to go for all our speaker sessions.

If you see the photo below, the resort is laid out like a palm tree, with the lobby area at the base of the trunk. The superior villas are mostly along the trunk, while the family villas are along the "branches". Just the trunk itself is around 500m, and each of the "branches" is another 500m or so. Which means that if your villa is situated at the end of one of the branches, it's about a 1km hike to the main lobby.  

Photo: Avani Sepang

To facilitate movement, the resort provides free bikes that can be found parked all along the villas. 

They also provide a buggy service. However, since our church contingent comprised more than 600 campers, our church organisers told us to leave the buggies for the older folks who really needed it.

Our villa was located at the 350m mark from the main lobby, so it really didn't seem like a problem. Lesley-Anne is a terrible cyclist and she said she would most likely cycle into the sea, so walking was going to be our mode of transport. However, by the second day, my knees were killing me (though it was probably the prolonged standing during the sessions more than the walking that caused the problem).

One afternoon, Lesley-Anne was walking ahead and I was lagging behind under the scorching sun when I passed by a couple of bikes. Suddenly, biking seemed like a really good idea. I picked one, placed my bag in the front basket and hopped on. I gripped the handlebars confidently, and off I went!...for about 10 metres before nearly crashing into a flower bed. So much for not ever forgetting how to ride a bike. Anyway, the bike went back to the side of the path and I went back to shuffling the rest of the way.

So by the end of the second day with aching knees, I gave in and took the buggy.

I was a little abashed that I was taking up a spot that should have gone to the old aunties...and then I noticed something curious. Nobody shot me dirty looks as the buggy whizzed past them on the path. In fact, nobody even looked twice in my direction. Then it dawned on me. OMG. I AM THE OLD AUNTIE.

It's amazing how quickly your feelings can evolve. I went from shame to wonder to indignation to resignation all within a split second. (I'm efficient. Even my feelings are efficient). If ever I was in denial about my auntie status, that jiggly ride on the buggy snapped me out of my delusions once and for all.

It's official - I am part of the buggy generation. It's quite funny, when you think about it, that I had more than one sort of awakening at church camp. Ah well. The least I can do is accept it with grace and humour. And at least it's a comfortable ride.

In the food capital of Japan

Konnichiwa!

I'm on a week-long holiday with the family in Kyoto and Osaka. It's primarily a food trip, to satisfy our gastronomic cravings (plus some sights lah). Follow our adventures in the land of sushi and geishas on my travel blog. The first two posts are already up and I will try to blog when I can.

Exploring the world with Yale-NUS

In mid-August, Lesley-Anne moved back into Yale-NUS to start her sophomore (second) year. I can't wrap my head around the fact that her freshman year came and went just like that.

Even though I'm tempted, I won't repost pics of all the wonderful facilities because I'd already done so in this post about Yale-NUS. Well, except this pic of the dining hall area, which we didn't get to see the last time. There is even a live station which serves special dishes like laksa and noodle soup.  Don't you think it looks like a hotel buffet dining room? 😲

What I wanted to share in this post is the overseas opportunities that Yale-NUS offers. When Lesley-Anne was applying to universities, Yale-NUS was top of the list for local unis partly because of this. If she couldn't study in an overseas environment, this was the next best option.

In her freshman year alone, she went on three overseas trips. The first was as part of the freshman orientation to Kuching.

Sorry, the photos are limited - I have a daughter who doesn't understand why we need to have a look at every rock she sees or where she stays (instead, she sent us random photos of cute cats and a donkey 😑). 

She also had the opportunity to go to Taiwan with Yale-NUS badminton team, as I'd written about here.

However, the most significant trip for freshmen in Yale-NUS is the Week 7 trip. Called Learning Across Boundaries, this is a flagship programme to encourage students to take their learning into real world situations beyond the classroom. Students in the past have gone to far-flung places like South Africa to learn about wildlife reserves, Huizhou, China to study agricultural villages, London to study art, and so on.

For Lesley-Anne's Week 7 programme, she was fortunate enough to be selected to go to Tangier, Morocco; Ceuta, Spain; and Gilbraltar, UK, which are geographically close by but with very different cultures. It was to study national identity in contested spaces under Global Affairs.

These three cities are considered contested spaces because they geographically close by, yet belong to three different countries. Gibraltar is next to Spain but it's a English colony. Tangier and Ceuta are right next to each other - you cross the border on foot. In Tangier, she stayed in the Medina which is the historic part of the country. This is where you find lots of traditional markets with strong Arab and Islamic influences.

The Rock of Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Since Tangier is right next to Ceuta, so you would expect Ceuta to follow the Arab heritage. Yet, the minute you cross the border from Tangier to Ceuta, you suddenly feel like you are in modern Europe. You'll find people walking dogs, whereas in Tangier, there are many cats. This raises the question: do people identify with cultures geographically or politically? I thought it was a fascinating topic.

When in Tangier, eat couscous

Ceuta

Week 7 is not just an excuse to have an overseas holiday, though. A lot of work is expected. During the trip, Lesley-Anne had to complete 10 short write-ups PER DAY of each of the places visited. At the end of the trip, the students had to submit a final essay of about 1,500 words, due the night they returned home. Most of them were feverishly typing up their papers on the plane ride back.

Not everyone goes overseas for Week 7. Some, especially international students, may choose to do their project locally or nearer home, like in Malaysia. But for those who value overseas experiences, it really is a fantastic opportunity. During the summer holidays, Lesley-Anne had to intern with her scholarship organisation but she had friends who successfully applied for summer school at Yale, US and other places. Of course, these trips are not free but I understand that many of the students apply for financial aid and subsidies. You may also apply for semesters at overseas universities, if you so prefer.

In short, if you're looking for lots of overseas opportunities in a local university, I think it's hard to do better than Yale-NUS.  

Hong Kong revisited

Happy New Year! Bucking the trend, we were on holiday last week, during the first week of January, instead of December. We were in Hong Kong for an eat-sleep break - a great way to recharge before starting 2017!

Will write a few posts on my Travel Blog on where we ate and stayed. The first post is already up, so if you're looking for foodie ideas for Hong Kong, do check it out!

Meanwhile, here are just a few sneak peaks of food shots to tempt your tastebuds 😋

 

Hanging loose in Hong Kong

Over the past week, we've been feasting in Hong Kong! This was a reward for completing a hectic year, especially for Lesley-Anne.

We pigged out for five days, from roast goose to suckling pig, beef congee to Peking duck. Check out my travel blog to feast virtually with me! The first post is up, will complete the others over the next few days.

Here's a sneak peek of what we had:

Top of the morning to you, Guv'nor!

Next week, we will be going on our family vacation - to London and Paris! I'm especially excited about this trip because it was something we had talked about doing for years. We've always felt that our kids' first trip to Europe should be London and Paris (our kids agreed!) and since travelling to Europe is not exactly cheap, we wanted to make sure that they were old enough to appreciate the cultural and historical significance of the places we visited.

We saw the window of opportunity this year as there are no major school events. Well, barring the fact that Lesley-Anne has block tests the week after the June hols, bah. (Next year, Lesley-Anne will be sitting for her A levels and the following year, Andre his O levels, so there might be all kinds of revisions and exams scheduled. Bleaaah. Sounds dreary just thinking about it.)

Both Kenneth and I have been to London and Paris and both cities were definitely memorable for us. We've been busy planning the itinerary and doing all the bookings for airlines, hotels, Eurostar, etc. A very fun sort of busy. Lesley-Anne has been too caught up with school to be excited yet but Andre has been as restless as an English terrier. All ready for fish and chips and croissants, he is!

Our bags are packed (well, almost) and even Danger Dan is making the trip with us!

During our holiday, I'll be posting on my Travel Blog whenever I can find the time (and wifi!) So if you'd like to read about our adventures, do check in there occasionally.

Meanwhile, lay off those assessment books for a bit and have a great mid-year break!

So much food, so little time - Hong Kong

The biggest draw of Hong Kong for us was the food but we weren't sure we would have time to scout out all the great eats, since our schedule was so hectic.

But we did! We were very fortunate that the Festival folks put us up in a very conveniently located hotel. We stayed at Lan Kwai Fong Hotel @Kau U Fong which is in Central, Hong Kong (our accommodation was kindly sponsored by NAC). The room is not large but its location can't be beat - walking distance to two MTR stations and many famous eateries.  

We had free buffet breakfast at the hotel everyday, which suited us fine cos we were usually too nervous to eat a lot before our talks anyway. What I like about breakfasts at Hong Kong hotels is that they usually have a very decent local selection.

But dinner is when we head straight for our much-anticipated meals. The first evening after we were dropped back at our hotel, we dumped our bags and made a beeline for Yat Lok at Stanley Street - famous for its roast goose. This is a little shop with limited seating so at peak periods, you may need to sit elbow to elbow with other guests. But since we were there early (5.15pm), we had a table of 6 all to ourselves.

I don't speak Cantonese but my friend, Lilian taught me how to say "goose drumstick" (ngor bei) so I went in, confidently held out two fingers and said, "ngor bei fan!" And lo and behold, the majestic drumstick!

That was some serious greasy goodness. The skin was crisp and the marinade extremely tasty. Lesley-Anne and I wolfed each of our portions down in under 10 minutes. I'm told that they run out of drumsticks pretty quickly so it's good to go early. The waitress said something to me in Cantonese but I gave her a blank look so she probably thought I was PRC. She was very nice though, and smiled at me. None of the hostility I was warned about. Another reason to go during off-peak periods when they're less hassled.

Each portion was HK$72 (about S$12). Not cheap but a must-try when you're in Hong Kong.

The second evening, we headed to the other famous joint near our hotel - Mak's Noodle on Wellington Street. How famous is this place? Well, they've got Anthony Bourdain's face and review plastered all over their tables.

Again, this is a small shop but we were there at about 6pm and it wasn't too crowded. This place is known for their wanton noodles and we could see why. Each bowl has four wantons bursting with plump and flavourful prawns. The noodles were super duper fine and the soup stock very tasty.

Be warned though, the portion is tiny. The bowl is a soup bowl, not the typical noodle bowl you get in Singapore hawker centres. So you might need to order two bowls to fill up. Each bowl is HK$35 (about S$5.80). Again, not cheap but one of those must-try places.

We didn't order double portions because we had another goal - to fill up on egg tarts! Lilian had told us about these egg tarts that are to die for, but we couldn't find the shop the night before. After she had posted a photo of the shop, Lesley-Anne went "ohhh! we did walk past the shop!" The shop is called Honolulu Cafe and it's on Stanley Street. The reason we couldn't find it was because it looks NOTHING like a place that sells egg tarts. As you can see from the picture, it looks like a restaurant and there are roast meats hanging in the display. Furthermore, there's no English name on the sign.

But walk up the stairs and you'll see a counter with pastries on the right...and the egg tarts! And glory be, they're as good as my friend Lilian says they are. The pastry is feather-light and the texture of the custard is perfect. As good an egg tart as I've ever tasted. We bought four to bring back to the hotel and after gobbling them down, we wished we'd bought more! I think the four egg tarts cost only HK$28 (about S$4.60).

The third day, we had a free day to ourselves and decided to wander around the vicinity after breakfast. Unfortunately, it was Sunday morning and everything was closed.

By the way, I find it absolutely terrifying that there seems to be little regard for safety here. Just check out the two men balancing on the scaffolding!

For lunch, we decided to try out Wah Fung restaurant, which was recommended by the Festival consultant. Three minute walk from our hotel and what caught our eye when we had walked past it previously was the tantalising picture of roast pigeon. Yes, pigeon! That's something we always try to eat in Hong Kong as it's hard to find in Singapore.

This is a proper restaurant where they serve you water and it was packed for Sunday lunch. We ordered a portion of suckling pig rice and two roast pigeons.

I think this was both Lesley-Anne and my favourite meal this Hong Kong trip. The suckling pig slices came with a thick layer of fat which I usually don't like but these were sooo delish I ate every bite. The pigeons were perfectly roasted and super tasty. What we like was that this restaurant had a lot of variety. Scores of youngsters ordered set lunches and we saw a tray of roasted meats that looked wonderful. Go in a group so you can try more food!

They have an English menu and one of the young waitresses spoke pretty good English. When I cancelled my extra order of rice (cos the suckling pig dish came with a large bowl of rice that was enough for Lesley-Anne and me), I expected a scolding or at least a scowl but no, she was very nice about it. And the best part was, the whole meal set us back only HK$145 (about S$24)! No service charge. That's really a fantastic deal.

After lunch, we went to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre to catch a contemporary dance performance. We were fortunate enough to be invited for this event, thanks to my ex-boss and long-time friend, Tisa Ho, who is executive director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

She bought us dinner at Peking Garden which is known for their Peking duck. Not the type Singaporeans are used to where you just wrap the skin and the meat is cooked some other way. This one, they slice the meat and you wrap it all in the pancake. Yummz.

Tisa is one of those people who never fail to amaze me. She has boundless energy (which puts me to shame), and is so witty and sharp, she always makes me laugh. After the waiter helped us take this photo, she looked at it and said, "It's great! You can see the duck!" Lol

We had a fabulous time catching up.  Wish we could do so more often.

That was our last night in Hong Kong and the next day, we caught the Airport Express to return to Singapore. Airport Express Hong Kong station, we attempted to have one last memorable meal at Tim Ho Wan but this was the crowd outside the restaurant:

Lesley-Anne refused to fight for her food so we ended up at Itacho next door. So it's not local but it was reasonably decent, all the same.
 

Our verdict of Hong Kong - its best attraction is its food. Just for that, it's worth visiting and re-visiting.

Public speaking baptism by fire in Hong Kong

So, as you all probably know by now, Lesley-Anne and I were in Hong Kong for a few days as part of the Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival. It was a whirlwind speaking tour - four talks and one workshop within two days! Part of the reason why it was such a rush was because over-achiever Lesley-Anne has a ballet exam this week and she insisted on flying home in time for the last lesson before the exam.

I decided to write about Hong Kong in two posts - this one is on the talks we did and the next one will be about... the food! (Cos we all know that's a very important aspect of travel and deserves it own post).

We flew into Hong Kong late on Thursday night. By the time we reached the hotel, it was almost midnight so all we did was take a shower and hopped into bed.The next morning, we were up bright and early for breakfast as I had to be at Radio Television HK for a 9am interview. This was followed by an interview with Sing Tao, one of HK's main Chinese newspapers.

Then we were chaperoned to our very first talk. This was a lunch talk sponsored by Mayer Brown JSM, a posh law firm at Central, HK. Mayer Brown JSM had invited their clients to hear me talk about my book The Good, the Bad and the PSLE and writing with Lesley-Anne. Together with some of their staff, the attendees numbered 40 or so.

Can I confess how intimidated I was? There they were - all these high-powered corporate folks in their suits and heels, many of them expats. They were coming to hear me speak? Gosh. As you can imagine, I didn't eat much at the luncheon (also because it was a stand-up buffet and I was afraid I would do something stupid like drop my fork or my food. My kids will tell you this is a common occurrence with me.)

The host, Gabriela was very sweet and reassuring but I was a nervous wreck. Lesley-Anne was seated at the head table with me and she saw my hand shake as I was holding the microphone. Glory of glories, I got through the presentation and no one fell asleep. In fact, they all seemed rather interested and laughed at my jokes. Many of the audience members were parents and they started asking questions about the difficulties of navigating the education system (HK's system is remarkably similar to Singapore's) and parenting in general.

And then... something miraculous happened. For some reason, I wasn't nervous when answering questions. I shared my views and philosophy, and how we often have to hold on to our beliefs even when society tells us otherwise. I shared my own experiences with Lesley-Anne and Andre. The audience listened. And when the session ended, Lesley-Anne whispered to me excitedly, "You made them cry! I saw three people cry!"

Whaaatt??

A man stood up and asked, "Is there a recording of this session? I ask this because my wife is a Tiger Mum and she needs to hear this."

Another lady to whom I'd earlier confessed that I hated public speaking told me, "If you're a bad speaker, then your book must be really incredible cos that was a wonderful talk!"

Oh wow. Cannot believe it. The reason I write this is to share with you (and remind myself) something a friend said to me before I'd left for Hong Kong - "God equips the called." Indeed. I think it's extremely comforting to know that if God has a reason for wanting you to do something, He will enable you to do it. It's truly a lesson in faith.

Mayer Brown JSM had generously bought The Good, the Bad and the PSLE for all the attendees. Here I am, autographing the books. (I deliberately chose a photo where you can't see faces, for privacy reasons).

The outcome of that talk did wonders for my self-belief and that much needed cos the very next talk was at a local school - Po Leung Kuk Ho Yuk Ching (1984) College, where we spoke to 270 13-15 year-olds.

We were warned that local students in Hong Kong are very reserved but we were not prepared for just HOW reserved they are. I mean, I was so thankful that we had just done a similar talk at St Hilda's Primary the day before and we got lots of laughter and applause so we knew the content of the talk was just fine. Cos what we got at the HK school was... silence. It's a little unnerving to not receive a response to any joke. Possibly it was due to their command of the language (English is their second language). Maybe they didn't really understand us even though we spoke slowly and didn't use complex words. Or maybe they're just very shy.

Anyway, the eagerness of the teacher made up for it - she was very welcoming and even bought a copy of Danger Dan for us to autograph.

That ended the first day of talks and the next day, we gave a few more, which I'll just list:

We conducted a creative writing workshop for kids and it's a world of difference when you deal with international school kids. These kids were vocal, participative and extremely imaginative. We were astonished at how imaginative they were and how much they could write within a short period of time! We had so much fun conducting that workshop. A parent later told us it sounded like the kids really enjoyed themselves cos she heard a lot of laughter from the room.

Lesley-Anne was a panelist in a public session called Becoming A Writer which featured young writers. The moderator was Jennifer Wong, a poet and on the left is Anna Ginsburg.  

I was part of a panel discussing parent-child relationships called Growing With Your Children, with Reenita Malhotra and Theadora Whittington, moderated by Crystal Kwok of Radio 3.  

Reenita Malhotra and Theadora Whittington

Finally, we were also interviewed by Daily 7/Daily 10 which is a kids' newspaper. The Hong Kong press has really been very supportive of us and our books, especially The Good, the Bad and the PSLE. South China Morning Post did an extensive interview with me that was published on 11 March 2014. You can read the article here.

Perhaps in time, our books can be distributed beyond Singapore's shores. A dream to hold on to!