Travelling with An Infant

I thought this might be a very interesting topic for all the new parents who are planning for their very first family trip with their little ones to other countries! This is not the ultimate guideline to follow, but I would only like to share from experience on what's best to do if you plan to travel with an infant or baby (under 1).

Last July 2014, we headed to South Korea as a family. Back then, my baby girl was just 11-month old. My baby was still on breastmilk (plus her usual solid food). The way I saw it, there was really a lot of advantages to that. What tops the list is being able to feed her without having to worry about not bring enough formula powder whatsoever.

Checklist

OK, let's move to the important stuffs. Here's what you must bring along:

1. Baby carrier - you cannot live without this when going to a hectic city like Seoul. It is not very stroller friendly. I was so grateful I brought the carrier along, and I used it almost all the time! I regretted using stroller once during the trip.

2. Baby stroller - I needed it to let my baby take her nap during our 4-hour transit in HK airport. If your transit is less than 2 hours, you may consider skipping this item. It really takes up a lot of space which may leave you with no option but to take the cab from airport to your hotel. I did that, it costed me RM240 one way. Compared to public transportation, probably around RM30 or less.

3. Baby toiletries - shampoo, baby bath, diapers. You may not wanna try new brands if your baby has sensitive skin. Stick with what works.

4. Baby lotion - If you are travelling during the dry season (mid July was pretty dry for my baby skin actually), bring along a really good baby lotion. I use Cetaphil Intensive Moisturizing Cream for her, BUT... I DID NOT BRING IT! I felt so bad I forgot that and her face got so dry those red flaky patches slowly appeared on her face. I thank God at least she doesn't have very sensitive skin so I bought Johnson & Johnson Soothing Balm from one of the Watson's in South Korea. Here's a pic you can see those red patches on her face :(

5. Snacks - use dry snacks like Happy puffs. You really don't wanna get messy in the plane with liquid and sticky snacks.

6. Eucalyptus oil - to soothe baby's breathing in long hour flight and air conditioned room. You can get this from Guardian/Watson's or any pharmarcies.

7. Toys - limit to space efficient ones. I prefer soft toys and cloth books because you can squeeze them to fit into the bag haha.

8. Baby jacket/sweater

9. Nursing cover

10. Small rice cooker/slow cooker. My trip was 11d/10n, so I didn't want my baby to be on merely instant cereals. I cooked for her. Check out her food :D Ok... I bought those raw ingredients and vege from Lotte in Ansan, including the meat. I brought my own organic buckwheat, millet, and quinoa; plus dried wolfberries! 

11. Instant cereals - I bought "Why Not" instant cereals for emergency use. We gotta always prepare for unexpected situations cos sometimes the hotel may not allow the guests to cook! It was proven useful for some long trips when I did not have enough time to cook.

12. Misc - Thermos container, baby utensils, handkerchief, common infants medication just in case, foldable changing mat.

My Flight Experience

TO DO: Call your airline to book bassinet seat even before check-in window is open. I did not get mine even when I checked in at the airport early. But I am grateful anyway because I was given the bassinet seat for Incheon->PG->KL

PG ->HK: I bf her during take-off and landing. It was a morning flight and my baby loves sleeping in the morning, so generally it was pretty seamless! Here's her happy face upon arrival at HK! 

HK transit: She took her 1 hr nap in her stroller during our lunch. I also breastfed her in the mother's room. HK Airport is absolutely bf friendly!

HK -> Incheon: It was an evening flight, which meant that my baby would be awake during most of flight. She enjoyed the first 2 hours of the flight. Upon the 3rd hour, she was quite cranky due to tiredness, fell asleep a while after I bf her. The last hour of the flight was really challenging as we had to find ways to calm her down, she was frantically kicking and the orange juice spilled on me... haha... it got kinda messy, countless pairs of eyes on us. By then, the "ultimate weapon" which is to bf her did not work anymore. Sigh.. she must be feeling so uncomfortable due to altitude change during landing. I just to had to keep hugging and soothe her until she slowly stopped crying... Not the best experience.

Lessons learnt:

1. Bf or bottle-feed your baby with milk during take-off and landing

2. Never leave unfinished beverages/food on the tray as you never know when baby may kick the tray.

3. Placing baby in the bassinet may not always be the best idea because when the seat belt sign is on, you have to hold your baby again... My baby was so frustrated for being awaken from her slumber. I remember I had to take her in and out 3 times, eventually I gave up placing her in the bassinet altogether. Having bassinet seat is still a good idea for more legroom as it is helpful when travelling with infant.

I won't elaborate further on our journey from Incheon to Penang. Generally coming back was much smoother.

Alright, that's about all I can think of for now. Feel free to leave a comment here if I miss out anything. I'll wrap up with some snapshots from our trip! No regrets travelling with my baby, it was so much fun!

Me and my cheerful baby!

Crazy for milk!

Oh yeah, somehow 90% of the restaurants I visited don't have baby chair. So I always go for those with floor seating

Honesty

I have just been honest to someone and it is a great relief. Why hide something to someone who deserves to know? Hmm, this is a feeling of contentment that I just wanna record in my blog. :)

Departmental Dinner

It has been such a long break since my last blog, more than a month! Here's the latest update on the event that I joined recently. My department came out with such a creative idea of organising Live Band performance, originally participated by the staffs from my department! Actually this had been iniatiated for more than a month ago. After one month plus of practice with my band, the performance came to reality on 29th November 2007 with 3 other great bands! I guess we all had to perform in front of a crowd of maybe 600+ people, well I forgot the number, but it was a good experience. I was the vocalist in the band, and this time I was singing the type of songs that I don't usually do. We aimed to really rock the event and did 2 rock tunes, with the last song being The Best Damn Thing (originally from Avril Lavigne) but we replaced the word 'Damn' with 'Grand' due to sensitivity issues. The musicians had a rough time on the stage especially the main guitarist and drummer. The guitarist had his guitar connection to the speakers cut off in the middle, but thank God he managed to plugged it back on time. And the drummer... man... hats off to him for staying calm and steady when one of the toms fell off! He had the bass flowing, and snare rolling as he fixed the tom! They all did such a great job! Oh, did I also mention that I had another team who was involved in Fashion Runway? We had to come out with design of our own. Not only that, we also had to handmake it ourselves! Hmm, not like I had any experience in this at all :P But we managed to pop the design out eventually. Here some pics of the event. More to come after I get pics from other cameraman, I did not take any pics with my own cam that night, was too busy running around :S

Double Standard

We had some appreciation meal at KFC today after church. J and I both ordered a large mashed potatoes. As usual, the gravy pre-packed with the mashed potatoes was very limited. So by the time we munched half of the mashed potatoes, the gravy was all gone into our tummies. Both of us wanted more of the gravy, so the lazy me just requested J to ask for it. He came back with no change on the container, nothing more or less.
PF: Eh, what happened?
J : The fella says finish already.
PF: Kenot be... sure got more in the kitchen! Lemme try :P

So I aimed for the male assistants this time! With a polite smile, I requested for it
PF : Hello, ada lagi tak gravy ni? Susah nak makan dah kering ni..
KFC: Oh sure. Kitchen ada lagi

A few seconds later another male staff approached me and offered to help me refill the gravy. He got into kitchen and came out with a full-filled of gravy and with a polite smile too!

HAHA... double standard for females... so be it... :P

G-day (for Greenday?)

This is my theme song for now. Well, I have liked this song since it was first released back at 2 years ago. The MV is also one of my favourites! Now this song is back in this phase of my life with another significance... hmm, 'why' u may ask... Hmm, doesn't matter why, one person will know why :P Anyway, here's the MV, enjoy ;-)

'Bloody' Day 2

Remember I told you about the bad experience I had from the blood donation? Well, I thought I wanted to take back my words for complaining bout the 'hanging scissors' case because it seemed that my arm was perfectly fine. No bruise nothing. Alas, I underestimated it! The effect really showed only after 3 days! The bruise started to show since yesterday, and this is what it looks like today:

I hope there won't be a 'Bloody Day 3' :P

Oh by the way, I think I did not clarify that the speculation I mentioned on blood donation are actually not true. Sorry if I caused anyone of you to misunderstand. I was merely sharing out some rumours that I hear from grandma stories. Donating blood is actually a healthy thing to do. But please do not overdo it. Always watch your hemoglobin and health level before going for it!

Finale, Was It That Grand?

Finally this is the day of Intel Idol Finals. Hot yet a fun day. Great experience to be performing in front of the crowd. Interesting to dress myself up in ways that I have never done before. Confusedly not understanding the results. Not because I am not the winner, but there are other contestants who did better than the top 3. Speechless and puzzled. Singing is a fun thing to do! Nothing much to blog about this competition for now...

Unbelievable!

Monday is here! This is the day of verdict. Remember the singing contest I was talking about last week? This is really unbelievable... HF and I both got into the finals! HAHAHA! Praise God!! We were both doing our own solos for semi-finals. I believe it is really by God's grace that we are in the finals, because the competition was really tight. God has blessed me so numerously this week. In fact, I am sure that He has always been faithful by blessing me lil by lil, yet sufficiently :) It's time to think of what song to sing for finals, better make it spectacular!

Great Game, Wonderful Outing!

Hallelujah! My church just had the best paintball game with one another ever! 60 of us including our friends participated, this was really a massive game. It was so exciting to see different teams playing with different strategies. I am very happy that this event has been very successful too. Thanks to everyone's effort of inviting their friends along, and of course the support from my church including our pastors. It was really wonderful to be able to get along with one another for this enjoyable time. I am still waiting for pictures from the cameramen/woman. Haha, all I can show you guys for now is this unforgettable wound that I got from this game. This is the worst out of the 9 bruises that I have, but I am sure it will be fine in a week time! ;-) I guess I was one of the main targets for most opponents, because I was wearing a bright colored T-shirt... as a consequence of not having my dark colored long-sleeved Ts in Pg. Kinda scary to be targetted by 3 opponents at the same time. Nevertheless, it is still a GREAT game! Praise God for this event!

Something Different

I must write something about today's event! I was being quite nervous almost the whole day the moment I woke up until about 5 pm! I tried to think about other things... tried concentrating on my work rather... but the cold sweat just never went away... It kept on coming from time to time. WHY?? Haha, cos I was on the verge to going for an audition for a singing contest! Yeah, you may think I am too free to end up joining a singing contest when I am already having a job... well, that's a once in a lifetime kinda experience, so better just do it. Like the saying goes, "You don't wanna look back to your past 50 years from now and regret for not taking a step of courage right now." Sounds familiar? Haha, you could have heard that from a movie, I guess you know it! Anyway, really thank God for the courage and peace in my heart. Thanks to all my friends whom came and supported. It's wonderful to see that they were the ones who made up 80% of the audience crowd. It's a fun experience!!

No worries!!!

I am so encouraged to see more and more new ppl coming to join Bayan Lepas CG. 3 of us from our CG shared Gospel to a new comer yesterday. It was more like a relax one including sharing our testimonies and usual lifestyle to this new friend. Throughout the sharing, I was really encouraged by LB & D after hearing the little things in life that God can bless us. Now I am reminded again to always learn how to put my worries away and lighten my burden through prayers and faith everytime I am caught with a troubled heart. I realise how unpeaceful my mind and heart can be when I am hit by a BIG crisis, yet trying to solve it with/by my own strength. Wouldn't it be better if we can gain peace and confidence from God first? Let's learn to believe in God for His LOVE, care and guidance. Go ahead and tell Him your troubles. It's not so hard to pray, you know. Just start from... "Dear God...*say everything you wanna tell Him in any language*," and end with ... "In Jesus' name I pray, Amen." Yes, it's that easy! Try it!!! God will hear you, you'll be surprised!! God bless you!

Watch Your Lunch

Imagine this... You are in a nice air-conditioned restaurant for lunch. As you're flipping through the menu, prices of the ala carte items seem like a lil costly and you start to think that you're gonna burn a lil hole in ur wallet if you order another extra soup which will cost you an extra RM6 maybe? Then, you see this attrative set meal, which offers the ala carte you wanted, plus soup, drinks and bread at just RM3 extra! The picture shows you a FULL bowl of soup with a nice cup of drink, golden toasted bread and such a soothing cup of dessert. Without hesitation, you order the set meal.

They started to serve you with the soup... and you notice that it's just 30% full. You start to wonder if there's a mistake... or have they run out of soup?? When the waiter is being questioned why the shrinked amount of soup, he just answered, "Oh... because this is a set meal." What the heck?!! So what if it's a set meal? So they are just offering the set meals at a lower price because the portion of food is less? When your ala carte arrives, you even realise that the portion of the costly ingredients like shrimps or meat is also less! Again, it's because the meal that your ordered is from the set meals? In other words, the set meals mean nothing but lower priced food at a lower quality and quantity. But all these signs were not mentioned through the graphics shown in the menu or indicated anywhere in the promotion.

So consumers out there, the next time you're gonna go for set meals, remember to ask and confirm that the items in the set meal you order are not down-sized or anything before placing your order. I have no idea when restaurants in Malaysia get so cheap to actually come out with this kind of business strategy, sigh... Places to be careful of: Pastasia in Queensbay and Hidden Recipe in Sg Dua. Someday when I am free enough to gather all the evidence and relevant information, I will raise up this issue to CAP. Do not remain in the typical culture of putting yourself in silent grudge when you don't get what you pay for. Make a difference man...

Fitness is BACK!

After sitting for more than 8 hours at office every weekday, for more than a month... my tummy starts to become more and more prominent :S :S :S URGGHHH!!! I cannot let this go on! Finally I have started my resolution today! Even though it wasn't a very intense workout, jogging around PISA for one round, plus walking (and jogging) to-fro PISA from Sunway Tunas wasn't that bad either ;). Anyway, PISA doesn't seem to be a very healthy place for jogging. First of all, the air is like totally polluted by all the vehicles around it. Secondly, there is not any proper jogging tracks... Ahh... Taiping Lake Garden is surely better :D With beautiful sceneries and much fresher air.

Let's hope I can keep this consistent. At least 3 times per week of workout. Hmm, I shall keep up with Pilates when I have a more proper place for it. Hopefully I can maintain a healthy figure and fitness level too. Can't wait for my bloodtest result too, haha!

Another Month...

After battling against my "annual sickness" for 3 weeks, it has finally ended!! YEAH!! Urgh, being sick really lowered my productivity a lot :S Another month has passed, feels like time just flies ever since I started working. Life has been so fully occupied with work and church. Can't believe that I am permanently stepping into the working world now. And life's so routine... and sometimes a lil boring... Darn, I miss my student life.

Hmm, Father's Day is coming this weekend! What are you getting for you dad? Hee~ Well, since my siblings got a watch for my mom for Mother's Day, I guess we gotta get something quite equivalent for my dad this time. Again, it's my mission to accomplish this gift hunt! Hopefully I can get it ready this Friday! Or maybe my brother is free since he won't have to work yet :P

Another season of my favourite series has ended. Prison Break, Lost... and now Smallville... Sigh... guess I have gotta experience "series drought" till August when PB is back with Season 3. Whoa... Smallville finale is superb. Haha, it seems every finale of my 3 fave series is exceptional and killing you to wait for almost half a year before the next season returns...

Sick...

Yesterday: I started off my day with terrible cough and the return of my running nose. I bumped into my boss at the car park and at the pantry. Haha, it's kinda odd that I get to see him twice in an hour time because I never even get to meet up with him for the past 1 month I have been here despite setting up appointments with him. The temperature in my office was much colder than it used to be somehow, I had my sweater on right right after I reached my cube. After a little bit of e-mails and work here and there, I headed for the department meeting.. urghh... I couldn't stand the cosy lightings and enviroment in the hall... and doze off... zzz...

After lunch hour, I started to feel lethargic and my body ache worsen. Initially I thought it was caused by the paintball. But every moment that passed by deteriorated my condition, until my productivity rate was zero. For the very first time, I left office at 3:30pm and headed to the one and only panel clinic that I knew. -.-", I guess I was driving in a little clumsy manner because of the lack of alertness caused by the fever, but thank God I managed to reach the clinic safely, got my med, and got home safely too. Without a second of delay, I lied flat on my bed after I had my medicine.

Thanks to J for getting me Kool Fever and fish porridge during dinner time. Thanks to all the CG members for their prayers too. Thanks to F for offering me his nicely peeled chesnut! And thanks J again for bringing me fruits after CG (well, I skipped CG :S)

Today: Hmm, I feel much better today! But I kinda lost my voice due to the cough. Haha, luckily my 1:1 is not today, otherwise my boss will have to suffer hearing my 'defected' voice!

Too Tired...

Training, training, training... currently I have been busy catching up with bootcamps, and self-training for my new job. Been spending my free nights locking up to the laptop and WFH (not Wong Fei Hung, it's Working From Home). Currently the same scenario is happening... but it's a lil relaxing now cos I get to take a break and blog a lil as I am waiting for the 40-min simulation to be done.

Hmm, I guess I really need more rest, more hours of sleep daily. The piggy me had been getting like 7-8 hours of zz daily back at 2 months ago before I started to rush for my FYP right until now... . Nowadays, a 6-hour sleep sometimes can seem contenting to me already. I believe I can't live on with this bad lifestyle. You know what, something imminent happened this morning. I was driving to workplace, and as usual (because this is Penang!), I was being 'cut-Q' by those zig-zag drivers :S that these ppl actually always caused me to get stuck at the orange light right before me, sien! First traffic light kena, 2nd traffic light, kena again, then 3rd one, kena too! Sigh... So I waited and waited... until I fell asleep! By the time I opened my eyes, the car in front of me was like 100m away! Hmm, surprisingly the car behind me did not honk me... or maybe I just didn't hear it?

I must get more rest... gotta get this training done real soon and get back to my normal life...

Am I MIA Again?

Hehe, seems like I have been quite inactive in blogging lately... I have been busy with work, plus I only have the chance to access the internet from office. You can't expect me to be blogging from office, right?

Right now I am sitting here in Sunway Tunas waiting for CG members to arrive for dinner. It's supposed to have started like 20minutes ago, but I just start to see their arrival now :S.

Highlight of these 2 weeks: I went to Gurney last Thursday night. Before I caught Spiderman3 in GSC, I had my meal at Fish&Co. Being the 'tai tao har' I sometimes am, I left my hp on the dining table. But I tell you what, the waiters there are so honest they actually called J's number (probably because he was the last person who sms me) and we quickly claimed my hp. Hmm, either my hp is too lousy (nokia 6600) or they are really honest people. I hope the latter is true-er :P

Ok, CG will begin soon, better stop blogging. I will come back with something more interesting once I have my internet connection! God bless ya~~

Places To Eat, YUM!

I am back!!! Did anyone miss me? :P Well, I have been really busy for the past week, and had limited access to the internet, hence I couldn't find time to make any new post. So here I am, spending my LAST day in USM, yeah, seriously, this will be the last night I will be staying in this house... will be leaving this memorable place the very next day... and for good... :(

Having that said, I am going to write something about the food and places to eat around USM, yeah! Initially when I came here, I found out that the food totally sucked (eurkss, I never liked any food in *9 other that its nasi lemak). The food in Parit Buntar area is like a treasure waiting to be found and unveilled. The truth is, there are plenty of really good and unique food in this area!

Bagan Samak('river' food), Sg Kerian(Laksa), Juru Autocity(international), Serdang(fried porridge)

The first pic is Bagan Samak, where you can get really tasty 'sam mei yu' (3 tastes fish), I don't know why it's called 3-taste, probably cos it's sweet, sour and spicy? Err... You can also get really big prawns, etc. Since fresh water living are the main ingredients for most of the dishes, the chef need to have really great skills to make them trigger your taste buds! Next is the famous laksa near Sg. Kerian, at just RM2/bowl. Hehe, that's the reason I always have two bowls during each visit. The business is so good that the owner only runs his business on Saturdays! And usually you gotta line up to get your seat! Going a lil further from PB area, we have Serdang (which is about 25 mins drive from PB) for its famous 'fried porridge' (hmm, fried foods are supposed to be dry... so what's fried porridge really about?). This is the place that never fails to impress anyone whom I recommend the place to. Sometimes you gotta make advance booking before going too. Moving even more further is Juru Autocity, you can get any kind of food you want there basically. There are Korean, Japanese, Laotian, Vietnamese, Thai, Western and Chinese food, all centered in this place which is also loaded with luxurious cars from Honda to Ferrari. Don't know why the people there are so rich... hmm...

There are many more great places to eat which I haven't mentioned, but let me show you the ultimate place to eat here... TADAA!!!

Food fair in my house!

Haha! That's my place! :P The best part of it is that it's free from MSG, keke. And let me tell you something that may surprise you, I am the main chef!!! Ok, you must be doubting the taste of the food (maybe I am not good at making jelly :S), nvm... Let's see if you'll be lucky enough to get the chance to try out my 'sao sai' in the future. Hehe...



So here I am, wrapping my last blog from USM... I am gonna miss the people, the lifestyle, and this 'unhappening'(that's what everyone says, but I like it that way) place. Bye bye, USM...

Be StRoNG!

It's good when you don't have a boyfriend around you when you are at that pace of life transitioning to being independent and learning how to live on your own. This pace of life strucks me during my campus life. When I first entered uni and lived away from my family, it wasn't really a huge change to me as I could still depend on my ex during the first year. Hmm, somehow I just tend to be dependent when the there was a person I knew I could rely on was just so reachable. Now, that wasn't healthy.

After we got off from our relationship, I started to be independent and I actually loved that! That's when I really start to learn about responsibilities and know how to appreciate better the little things that people around me do for me. Usually when I don't get my hands on doing something, I won't really know how much effort is required hence I tend to take things for granted. Being able to live on my own has made me so much appreciative and stronger; and that also makes my parents so much more confident of what I am able to do on my own now. Thinking back about it, it's funny how my Mom or Dad goes like, "WOW! You did it? You're really good!" everytime when I rebelliously do something they don't agree with just for the sake of protecting me, thinking that I am too infirm to handle it. Probably that's because I am the youngest child, and they see me as the feeble one who needs more protection, hmm... Anyway, I am just glad that I have proven to them that I can take good care of myself now :D At least they won't have to worry that much when I leave to Penang for work.

I guess if I have a boyfriend who is in the same campus with me throughout these years, I am still that dependent girl who just knows how to look to her boyfriend in times of troubles. It's a good thing I don't have one. And hey girls out there, even if you do have a boyfriend who is just a phone call away, try not to rely so much on him and challenge yourself to get things done on your own first. The gratification that comes from your achievement will surely give you a sense of victorious accomplishment that drives you forward to being stronger each time. Seek God for strength, He's stronger than your bf! Live up to the power within that God has blessed you, girls! Be like the PowerPuff Girls!

RM2 @ Sushi King!

My HD asked me for lunch once I logged in to my MSN this morning, I quickly agreed cos I thought it would be nice to catch up with him after not seeing him for quite some time. Fate was just not by our sides when a temptation too strong to resist lured me. MC told me that Sushi RM2 promo was back and said there was still one final slot left for me. Hmm, I love seafood and Jap food... so... I, I... 'aeroplane' my HD... gone... Gonna make it up to him someday.

We chose to go after lunch time to avoid the long queue. Well, it seemed that many students like us were thinking of the same thing, hence we waited for about 15mins for our turn, not too bad. That was when I decided to take some shots of the situation then. It was truly a satiable meal! What more could I ask for with every plate of sushi I ate only costed RM2 regardless of what it costs usually? GREAT value and yuMmY!


Waiting for the long Q...

The first time I've seen so many plates of sushi during a Jap meal (except for buffet) -.-"

Try to count the number of plates!