A Malacca Vacation

Five days before Christmas, we set out in high spirits with our cousins for Malacca. There, we visited museums such as the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum where we learned about the culture and history of Malacca. We also visited the Maritime Museum, which was a replica of a Portuguese ship. Another historical site was the ruins of the Al Famosa fortress that was built by the Portuguese after they conquered Malacca.

One place I particularly liked was the Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary which we visited on the 2nd day. The butterflies there were a lot more colorful than the ones in Singapore. Best of all, they were friendly and easily attracted to us! It felt itchy as the butterflies crawled on my body, but it was kind of fun. Besides butterflies, there were other amazing creatures such as scorpions, alligators, snakes, emus, peacocks, electric eels, otters, weasels and even a bearcat! I think it is called a bearcat because it looks like a bear, and climbs like a cat! So much for a butterfly and reptile sanctuary; it looks more like a zoo to me.

We walked a lot around the town but we also tried the local transport, like the trishaw. It is called a trishaw because it has three wheels. We sat in what looked like a carriage while a man cycled us to our various destinations. On the last evening, we took a boat ride along the Malacca River. I enjoyed the ride very much for the weather was breezy and the river was lighted up with colorful lights.

We spent the last evening at a shopping mall. I am talking about this not because I love it, but because of what happened there. It was pretty late in the evening when we finished shopping. We decided to take a trishaw back to the hotel for we were weary from walking. You might think that it should not have been a problem but guess what? They charged us RM 50 for just a short ride to the hotel! This is five times more expensive than the offer we had earlier. It is most ridiculous! Finally, we decided that it was better to walk back to the hotel. By the time we reached our room, I was exhausted and after a shower slept almost immediately.

A retreat in Changi

It is about a week since we returned from our CG retreat to Changi Village. I have decided to talk about our trip, for I loved the activities we did there...

I awoke with my head buzzing with excitement for today is the BIG day. We are going to Changi Village with our CG! After a wait which seemed like eternity, we started off. The hotel which we were staying in looked a bit like an office to me. However the inside was more welcoming. There was a mini house made of all sorts of delicious goodies, but of course, it was not edible. After brunch, we went to our rooms. At first, our rooms were on the smoking level and I did not want to stay in it for the smell of smoke was unbearable. Unfortunately, there were no other available rooms, and we had to wait till 5.00pm. We past the time by watching a movie at Noah's room with the CG and before we knew it, our rooms were ready.

The following day, we woke up bright and early for our guided tour at Chek Jawa. The tour was excellent. We got to observe and identify many creatures unknown to us, like the Oriental Tree snake and the male wild boar. They looked pretty scary too! After a session of drawing, we started back to the jetty for the ride back to mainland in the bumboat. Lunch was delicious for it was a buffet. I drank mushroom soup, ate rice with curry, chips and tomatoes. I even tried olives! Dessert was ice-cream. In the evening, we went for a stroll at the Changi beach. I did not really enjoy the walk but it was through the walk that I spotted a lizard hiding behind a rock and a White Bellied Sea eagle soaring high in the sky. We also spent some time at the beach digging a deep pit. Come to think of it, I actually enjoyed the walk after all!!

Upon returning to our hotel room, I immediately prepared a soapy bath in the bathtub. This also was one of the favourite things that we did at this Retreat, for the water was warm and soothing against the cold November evenings. Eating dinner under the stars in the open courtyard was another novelty, only there was not a single star to be seen that night! We had to rely on Samuel's torchlight but it soon blacked out, and we had no choice but to eat in darkness. Of course there were some light from the hotel corridors but it was inadequate. Our eyes soon adjusted to the darkness and all in, I kind of enjoyed it! A while later, I could not eat anymore probably because I could not really see what I was eating! Soon my friends, brothers, and I were in our room watching TV.

Time certainly past quickly when you are having fun, for the time came for us to check out. The highlight of the day was a swim race with my friends and the adults. We challenged our fathers to a race and guess who won? Us! Actually, it was not a fair race for our fathers swam breaststroke while we swam the frontcrawl. I was famished after all the workout and was glad the lunch was pizza. I ate three big slices!!

This is one trip I would never forget.

Our trip to Bintan(Indonesia)

Last week, My family and I went to Bintan for a holiday. We boarded the ferry called Aria Bupala ". During the ride, I felt very seasick. I guessed the waves were a little more choppy this time.

This is a picture of my brothers and I seating at the top deck of the ferry.

When we reached the hotel, daddy went to the reception to check in. Our room numbers were 1037 and 1035. In the room, my brothers and I quickly changed into my swimming shorts so that I could go and swim in the pool immediately! But when we reached the pool, I found out that the pool was not what I had expected because there were no slides, only a basketball net. I felt disappointed. A while later, we decided to head to the beach. The beach was my favourite place because there were so many black-striped fish, mudskippers and lots of crabs swimming in the stream that led out to the sea. After playing at the beach and climbing large boulders for a while, I decided to explore the stream further. We were so surprised when we spotted a Monitor Lizard!!! Below are some pictures of what we saw at the stream.

The monitor lizard

Mudskippers

The next day, we went to the beach again after breakfast. This time I saw more fish than yesterday. But they were swimming very fast. So, I could not catch any at all. In tthe afternoon, we went to another swimming pool which had a slide, but was not slippery. We ended up walking down the slide instead of sliding down. Daddy, Jabez and I also played table tennis which was fun, but difficult to play. In the evening, we went to the beach again. But this time I managed to catch a small black fish in a rock pool! I was so excited and went to show daddy and mummy my catch. After that, I released the fish back to the sea. I also saw a school of big fish. But they were too big and fast for me to catch. Later, my brothers and I built a dam to try and block the water current. We used rocks and sand to build it.

Our brother Nat wanted to help too! But he ended up destroying our dam.

After building the dam which did not really work, the 3 of us climbed the large boulders again. Jabez and I found some rocks that we thought might be a granite and a geodeo!! As it was low tide , so we could make our way down to a big rock pool where we found more fish and some BIg crabs!

The black spot under the rock is a black crab hiding under a rock.

This is a picture of the 4 of us in the big rock pool

After dinner, we went to take a stroll at the beach. The sky was filled with many stars as the beach was very dark. It was a breath-taking night scene! We spotted 'The Orion' . Actually it was daddy who saw it because I did not know much about star constellations. I enjoyed the night stroll at the beach and listening to the waves splashing.

On the last day, right after breakfast, we went to check our dam. Although it was low-tide, but the water actually covered the whole dam!! We decided to move to the beach and enjoy the gentle waves and swim in the cooling water for a while. By about noon time, we had to return back to our room and get ready to check out. I was sad to leave Bintan, but happy to return home to Singapore. I had a memorable vacation.

My busy March holidays

During the March holidays, I did lots of things. On Tuesday, I went for my second chess competition. I won four rounds! Although it was better than the last time, I still could not get into the chess junior squad. I was very disappointed, but I enjoyed playing with other players. I also realised my weakness, when I play white.

On Wednesday, my brothers and I went to a road safety park. My friends, Bailey, Dominic, Christian, and John were there too. When we reached the place, I quickly grabbed a cart as cannot wait to start driving it around the course. I felt like driving a fomular 1. After having fun at the road safety park, we headed home to rest before going to Farrer Park swimming complex for my swim meet. When we reached Farrer park, I started to feel nervous. Soon, it was my turn to swim. I chose the 50m Freestyle event because I was most comfortable with that stroke. When I finished the race, I realised that I was in second place!! I was very happy. In the end, I came in third overall amongst 17 swimmers. I won my first my trophy!!! I had a great day.

Read about our trip to Sentosa in Jabez's Jet Plane Our trip to Sentosa(Thursday)

On Friday, my brothers and I went to Bailey and Dominic's 8th birthday party. The theme was on medieval times so when we reached the place (Jurong West) we got to wear knight costumes. When everybody had arrived, we started playing games. The game that I liked very much was "the dragon hunt." We went round the estated looking for clues that would lead us to the dragon. The clues were not easy to understand and find. Our team, found the first clue which was stuck to the extinguisher. In the end, it was a draw. After we finished the game we sang a birthday song to Bailey and Dominic before eating their cake which was an apple pie! The pie was delicious!! Then, we practiced shooting arrows at the dragon. I enjoyed this party.

On Saturday, my brothers and I went to Sungei Buloh for the young naturalist day camp. After we were divided into groups, we went to the boardwalk with our guides to look at animals, mangroves, crabs, and many other interesting things. I saw a Torchginger plant which is used for making the fragrent taste in Rojak. We also saw a very big mud skipper, some tree climbing crabs, a cicada, and mangrove roots that are called"pencil roots" After that, we went to look at birds at the bird watch shelter. Along the way I saw a few Monitor Lizards, Archerfish, Strippednose half backs, and a poisonous black viper with red eyes!! It looked very scary. When we reached the bird watch area, I did not see many birds except a few Little Egrets. I think this is not the migration period. Soon it started to rain and we headed back to do craft and draw. We made a clay mud skipper, weaved a leave to form a Tailor bird's nest, cut out a picture of a purple Heron for a mask, and, cut out a picture of a snake as a wristband. This is my first time seeing so many interesting things in Sungei Buloh. This is my most exciting trip to this place.