Singapore in the 60s [Book Review]

Posted in Book Review by jahbella

How many of you remember your parents telling you stories of their childhood? The games they played, the food they are, how things used to be?I know I remember some of these ‘stories’ really vividly.

One of the stories that I remember to this day was the one about how they would lower a basket from the 2nd or 3rd floor of their low rise HDB flats to buy noodles from the noodle cart downstairs. This was how they collected their noodles and paid for it without having to go downstairs.

I was recently given a copy of the limited edition SG50 illustrated book, Singapore in the 60s by James Suresh (best selling author and co-creator one of Mr Kiasu). I was very excited to find that same story that my mum had retold countless times to us as kids, in the book. The book is a recollection of James Suresh’s memories of his childhood days in 1960s Queenstown. The book is divided into 6 chapters covering topics such as the neighbourhood and the kampong spirit that prevailed, the travelling hawkers and tradesmen, recreation, significant events, public amenities or the lack of it and Iconic places past and present.

It was almost like opening a door into the past and taking a glimpse of how our parents had lived as kids in Singapore.

In fact I was even able to identify some moments from my own childhood which I might have forgotten if not for reading about them again. Remember the kacang puteh man at the cinemas? The games like five stones, hop scotch and skipping (teddy bear teddy bear turn around!) 🙂

And how many of you remember water rationing? I remember having a big tub/ drum of water in our toilets when we were younger and I never questioned why we needed that since we had running water from taps. I now understand that it was probably a habit that our parents had developed as a result of having to go through countless water rationing exercises in their childhood days.

In case you are wondering how to get your hands on this book, it is currently not available to public but copies are gradually being made available to school libraries in Singapore. 50 copies will also be made available to the public through a social media contest to be announced at a later date.

This book is an absolute gem that I hope will one day be able to give my kids a glimpse into history and Singapore in its early days. In fact, wouldn’t it be cool if our kids got to read about Singapore in the 80s or 90s as well. 🙂 Priceless Memories for the next generation!

JahBella’s Mummy

19Aug2015

What Singapore Means to Me – Regardless of Race, Language or Religion

Posted in Blog Train, Our Thoughts by jahbella

When FinallyMama initiated the “What Singapore Means to You” blog train, I was really excited to take part in it. After all I figured how hard was it going to be for a person who was born and bred in Singapore to pen down her feelings about Singapore. As the day of my blog post neared, I started to panic, not for the lack of something to write but because I realized that it was going to be hard to explain what Singapore means to me.

It wasn’t until National Day came around that I came to the full realization of what I wanted and needed to write about. My inspiration? The Singapore Pledge.

We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language, or religion
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation

Yes, notice the underlined portion? It was exactly this line that fully encompasses what my life has been about and what it means to be a Singaporean to me.

Lets start from the beginning…

I was born to Chinese parents who learnt Malay as they were growing up. I’m not sure if this was because of their Peranakan background or really just by default of what their parents opted for them in school. They didn’t speak a word of Mandarin but were fluent in the Hokkien dialect because this was how they would communicate with their parents and grandparents.

I picked up Mandarin when I went to Kindergarten. I came home after the 3^rd day at Kindergarten and started speaking Mandarin to my shocked parents. My mum eventually picked up Mandarin in her adult years and started listening to Mando Pop. We were also exposed to various dialects such as Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese as we were growing up and so can now fully understand and speak them to a certain extent.

Religion wise, my father is a Catholic and my mum was a Buddhist. Yes this made for quite a confusing childhood when it came to religion and what to practice but on a positive note, this taught us very early on about the existence of other religions and how to be tolerant.

I attended a mission school for 10 years and it was only after leaving school that I realized what my key take-away from that education was. I never noticed the ‘differences’. My friends were well…just that…friends! They were not Malay, Chinese, Indian or Eurasian. They were just like me and we were friends because we got along.

I think that was also what set the tone for my relationship with my husband, Joel. When I first met him, the concept of race never entered the picture at all. For those who don’t know, my husband is Indian. In fact, I have to admit that that fact never quite entered the picture until we were preparing for our wedding. But then again, lots of issues take place during wedding preps, regardless of race, language or religion. So I suppose it doesn’t quite count.

Which now brings me back to the point of What Singapore Means to Me. Singapore is that 1 line in the pledge which we as kids, have found ourselves reciting over and over again. Probably without realizing then that perhaps we do know the true meaning of it.

It also means that my kids will be able to tell people that their father is Indian, their mother is Chinese and that they come from an extremely multi-racial family. (Yes they also have an uncle who is Malay and aunty who is Muslim). I hope that they will eventually be able to speak/ understand English, Mandarin and Tamil and who knows maybe even Malay.

It means that my kids will hopefully never ‘notice’ the difference but yet know they exist and embrace it. “Regardless of race, language or religion”. This is what Singapore Means to Me.

JahBella’s Mummy

This post is part of the ‘What Singapore Means To Me’ blog train, hosted by FinallyMama.

Up next is Yanxiang

By day, Yanxiang is a civil servant who has taught English in a secondary school, and am now working on policies within the larger civil service. Her work allows her to constantly consider the people around her, and society in which she live, and how to better the lives of her fellow citizens.

She recently embarked on the remarkable journey of parenting a little boy named Isaac. Read about her life as a parent and how it involves twice the laughter, twice the tears, twice the excitement, twice the challenges and an abundance of love at thelittlestandusmakesthree.wordpress.com

13Aug2015

Beach Day Out to Lazarus Island

Posted in Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

If there is one type of activity that Jah and Bella really enjoy, it would involve lots of sand play and splashing around in the water. However we haven’t exactly been able to find an activity that allowed them to do both at the same time (save for the Port of Lost Wonder). So needless to say, I was really excited to learn that they could possibly be able to enjoy some sand play and be able to swim in a nice little lagoon at Lazarus Island and all we needed to do was take a 30 minute ferry ride over.

Ok well sort of, this ‘expedition’ was going to take abit more effort than just a 30 minute ferry ride.

We chose to head over on a Public Holiday as there were more ferry timings offered. We had to wake up bright and early to ensure that we could catch the 9am ferry from Marina South Pier. I guess you can say that we were quite fortunate that there was quite a demand for the ferry that day so the ferry company decided to launch more than 1 ferry during that 9am slot. This meant that we were still able to purchase our tickets when we got there at 845am.

While there was a “Provision/ Convenience” shop at the Ferry Terminal, we came prepared with our Nasi Lemak, Snacks and Cooler bag of drinks. This is absolutely necessary because there are no shops on the island and we had planned to stay on till 150pm. (The ferry departs every 2 hourly on the weekends and Public Holiday).

Bella enjoying the view from the ferry

The ferry ride was fairly comfortable and quick and we were at St John’s Island before we knew it. Yes you read correctly, we disembarked the ferry at St John’s Island even though we were headed to Lazarus Island. The only way to get to Lazarus Island is either by a link bridge (20 mins walk) from St John Island’s jetty or by hiring a private boat/ yacht to take you there.

Upon reaching St John’s Island, it was tempting to just stop at the nearest beach/ lagoon. After all, it was just next to the jetty, had abundant benches and a wide canopy of shelter. However we decided to go the whole 9 yards and persevere. We headed left from the jetty and commenced our 20 minute morning stroll towards Lazarus Island.

Turn left upon reaching the jetty and you will see a long sheltered path leading to a breakwater/ ‘bridge’

The long unsheltered ‘bridge that links St John’s Island to Lazarus Island

An early morning stroll is pretty easy and fun

Safe enough for Jah to venture ahead of us and also tons of people fishing along the side of the ‘bridge’

Keep walking and you will eventually come to a clearing on the right that looks like this…

The beach was pretty empty when we got there at about 10am except for 2-3 families and we managed to score a spot under 1 of the 2 only trees they had on that beach. Watch out for the big red ants though! Honestly apart from needing that spot to set up shop and have a quick bite, you will be spending most of your time in the water. I know we did!

The kids loved the clear green water and while it might not be ‘international’ standards, it was by far the best I have seen in a long long time! The adults were reminiscing about how we used to swim in the East Coast waters 20 to 25 years ago and even this was cleaner that what we had back then. The kids alternated between playing with the sand and just soaking in the nice little lagoon until all of us were all wrinkly.

Shallow clear waters

Time to relax…

Even Miss Scaredy Cat eventually succumb to the cool clear water

Sand!!!

Sand play before the private yachts started to pepper the waters

The crowd started coming in on the 2^nd ferry (11am) and the private yachts started turning up 300m away from the shoreline as well. It was honestly a little annoying when they started whipping out the jet skis and what not, but well we tried to ignore all that and just enjoy the moment.

The slight downer to our trip was the fact that the rain clouds turned up and brought the storm in from the sea about 30 minutes before we were ready to pack up for our ferry. 😦 Thank goodness for the fact that I had packed in our raincoats (I know! Who brings raincoats to the beach right? Haha). And the fact that Jah and Bella had such a sporty Uncle and Aunty who just rolled with the punches and used the picnic mat as a makeshift ‘umbrella’.

It really started to pour as we headed back on the ‘bridge’ or maybe because we were kind of in the middle of ‘nowhere’

Honestly the rain wasn’t that much of a downer in my opinion because we got to enjoy a really awesome sunny morning and it was kind of fun for the kids to walk in the rain in their raincoats. Joel and I were also extremely impressed by the little troopers especially Jah who clearly was feeling really cold and tired but never whined and never gave up. He only requested to stop once when he spotted shelter because he was hungry and wanted a cookie. We stopped and he immediately shouted “ok lets go!” after he finished his last bite. Love the boy to bits!

Jah stopping for a quick cookie to warm up

The little trooper frog

Before embarking on this trip, Joel was alittle concerned about the lack of toilets or changing facilities but honestly it is do-able with abit of planning. Kids are easy enough to change in full sight of everyone and while we adults figured a way to change, I reckon it would have easily been ok even if we didn’t. The 20 minutes walk back in the sun would have dried all of us up, that is of course unless you faced a rainy end to the day like us.

Probably would have dried up by this point if not for the rain (almost at the jetty)

Keeping warm in the ferry with blankets that JahBella’s uncle brought…yes who brings blankets to a picnic right?

We would head back there in a heart beat and this time we would be even better prepared than the last. Definitely a place to bring the whole ‘kampong’ to spend a nice morning out. Oh and if your kids still have the energy after the beach, you can even stop over at Kusu Island which is the ferry stop before the ferry takes you back to Singapore. 🙂

Sharing a moment once we got back to mainland Singapore

JahBella’s Mummy

7Aug2015

NDP Preview at Ritz Carlton Singapore (Review)

Posted in Uncategorized by jahbella

If you don’t already know this about us, we absolutely love traveling! Yes Jah and Bella included, quite the wanderlust family. So whenever we entertain the thought of doing a staycation, it somehow always ‘escalates’ into a full-blown holiday overseas. I always end up convincing myself that it wasn’t worth the trouble to just pack for a night or two and I might as well top up a little and take a plane somewhere for a ‘real’ holiday.

So the decision to do a staycation at Ritz Carlton Singapore wasn’t a straightforward one. We had just returned from Tokyo with the kids for 11 days and our helper would have just returned from her home leave the day before. All in all, no reason for a holiday so soon after and just a logistical inconvenience for me. However we figured there was no better time for a staycation too, given that we will get to enjoy a good view of the NDP fireworks and all the aerial display. I’m so glad we went ahead with it and that we chose the Ritz.

When I first entered the lobby for check-in, I was abit thrown off by the long queue at the front desk. Are you sure this is the Ritz? It all looked abit disorganized and chaotic. However I was quickly ushered by one of their staff to another ‘desk’ so that I didn’t have to wait in line. I later found out, it was because I had Jah with me and they have a policy to prioritize and attend to guests with kids first. 🙂 Nice!

The kids were also given Ice Cream Passes (a free scoop of ice-cream daily, to be claimed at the Pool Bar) and an activity pack. Really nice touches to make the kids feel part of the entire experience and it helped to ease some stress off the parents as well.

Ice cream pass!

Activity for the kids (nicely put together)

Who doesn’t want ice-cream..even I wanted some

The Deluxe Room with Marina Bay view that we booked was quite something. Even without the promise of fireworks and aerial display, it was a sight to behold and we wondered why we didn’t do this sooner.

Twin bedroom

The toilet you never want to leave

View from our Deluxe Room

We were also given a bottle of champagne, 2 limited edition SG50 lions and a S$50 credit which we used for room service, as part of the Celebrate You Celebrate Me package. The package is available till the end of the year so it is really quite a value for money deal if you should decide to do a staycation at Ritz Carlton Singapore this year.

While we were not expecting to head out at all since we wanted to park ourselves in front of our windows from 5pm onwards, the location of the hotel was really convenient for us to grab early dinner and snacks for the evening. I would imagine though, if we didn’t have any NDP entertainment to keep us in, the location would be perfect for us to explore the Marina bay and heritage areas in the vicinity. I am really glad we chose the Ritz for this purpose though because we honestly had a spectacular view of the flying and fireworks action. We even had the mobile column and the marching contingent past right in front of us. And because it was the NDP Preview, it really helped to have large giant screens on the floating platform to showcase the action happening at the Padang. Here are some of the ‘money shots’ from that evening. 🙂

Black Knights

LKY Tribute

A380 over the bay

A380 upclose

State flag flypast

SG50

The first fireworks before dark

Fireworks Spectacular

Marina Bay Light Show

I have to say the only disappointing thing about the entire experience was the lackluster breakfast buffet spread. We were expecting a lot more from Ritz Carlton and perhaps we were a little spoilt from our previous experience at Capella but the breakfast was really quite ordinary. In fact, the room service dessert, the night before was rather disappointing as well.

That being said, we loved the service, the room and how they treat families and children. They even had a special table set up by the pool side for kids to take part in some SG50 drawing/ doodling. You will be surprised at how interesting kids find these activities. Jah was captivated for a good 20 minutes and he even drew a picture of what he saw from our room window, the night before.

More ice-cream and drawings! Perfect Sunday!

Little Picasso

Family members are yellow in the building (yellow circle). Fireworks are the colourful bits and Supertrees are the green parts. 🙂

Definitely a hotel we will be coming back to (even without the NDP draw).

For now, goodbye room..goodbye view (according to Jah)

Happy National Day!

Enjoy your Jubilee Weekend!

JahBella’s Mummy

4Aug2015

Drypers Drypantz Staycation Contest and Review

Posted in Media Invite, Reviews by jahbella

Jah and Bella have been using the same diaper brand since birth (from newborn diapers all the way to the ‘pants’ version) and I have to say I have been rather happy. Up until of course when I started getting ‘complaints’ from both JahBella’s Papa and the helper which meant that I had to spring into action to see if there was another brand that would fit our needs better. So it was timely that Drypers was also looking for families to try out their Drypantz range and I figured where’s the harm in trying. 🙂

My first impression of Drypantz was the fact that it looked a lot softer and less stiff than the brand I was previously using. Plus the fact that I didn’t have to buy two different ‘gender’ pants when they wear the exact same size, was a huge upside for me. (Shopping woes!)

JahBella’s Papa loved the fact that the sides of the Drypantz were stretchy which meant that he didn’t have much difficulty in trying to put them on for Bella. He was convinced a week ago that Bella needed to upgrade to XXL because he was having trouble pulling the pants up for her. Stretchy Drypantz waistband to the rescue and now everyone is happy! 🙂 I think Drypers was not bragging when they said its Comfort Fit™: New soft outer cover and Comfort Fit™ in waist provide softness feeling and greater comfort for baby. It really is so much softer than what we are used to so now I kind of feel bad for the scratchy waistband I have been making them put up with.

Our helper also gave Drypantz the two thumbs up when she fed back that ‘the diaper is not wet’. What she meant was the fact that you can’t feel the wetness even after the child had peed. So no more damp feeling for the child and in my opinion, it probably meant that it was well-absorbed and so less likely to leak. (It is one thing to wake up to a diaper that has leaked all over your bed and it is another thing to find out that said diaper has also leaked all over the heavy weigh-a-ton car seat). According to Drypers, this is due to its Activ-Core™: Specially designed absorbent core helps to quickly absorb urine, prevent flow-back. It also provides up to 10 hours of longer-lasting dryness which is perfect when your kids put on their diapers at 9pm and are expected to only wake at 7am.

From Jul onwards, Dryper Drypantz is available in Mega Packs – with pack counts as follows – M-60pcs, L-48pcs, XL-42pcs, XXL- 36pcs

Looks and feels pretty soft + it looks smaller than an XL but fits really well because of its stretchiness

If you are looking to try a new brand or if you are about to upgrade your child to diaper pants then there is no better time to try out the Drypers range than now.

Drypers is giving consumers a chance to win a 2 day 1 night staycation in the first-ever Drypers Rock Themed Room at Hard Rock Hotel, Resorts World Sentosa!!!

Drypers will be selecting 6 lucky winners (1 per week) to enjoy a 2 day 1 night stay at the Drypers Rock Themed Room, filled with a whole load of Drypers goodies.

Drypers cushion which the winners are free to take home with them

Bath items specially prepared for the baby!

Baby cot is available too if you need it and oh yes and winners are also free to bring home that cute little guitar there 🙂

More goodies for the winners to bring home! Daddy, mummy and child rockstar t-shirts as well as all the selfie props! How fun!

Tempted yet?

Head to Drypers Facebook Contest Page- http://drypersfacebook.com/RockerBaby/ and follow these 3 easy steps to stand a chance to win!

Take a rock themed photo of your baby (0 – 36 months at time of submission of photo) in Drypers Drypantz.
Include a creative caption for your photo along with #Drypantz and #diapers
Submit the photo via Drypers Singapore Facebook campaign tab.

1 winner will be selected per week to enjoy the staycation at the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore while 3 other winners will walk away with a designer’s bag worth $162 every week.

Winners will be notified via facebook on a weekly basis.
Contest period: 13 July 2015 – 23 August 2015

More details on the staycation can also be found on Drypers Singapore facebook page!

Good luck! And enjoy the little dry bottoms! 🙂

JahBella’s Mummy

Disclosure: JahBella received the Dryper Drypantz product for the purpose of this media review. No monetary compensation was received and all opinions are my own.