Chinese New Year 2010

How time flies!

CNY 2010 is almost over, and what an event it was.

We usually spend CNY in Kuala Lumpur with my parents and the relatives, but this year we were headed to Kota Bahru in Kelantan to visit Chris' grandparents.

First of all, there is NO direct flight from Singapore to KB. GROAN. So it was to be 2 short flights per day both ways. Entertaining a toddler throughout 2 flights is really quite a task. Especially on the take off and landing. It was the final time I was going to share a seat with her, but it was so funny she claimed Chris' seat the minute we got on board. Then promptly threw a mini tantrum when Chris tried to claim it back.

We stayed at the Grand Riverview hotel during the 3 nights that we were there. We were fortunate to get an upgrade to a bigger room, but that was where the "luxury"ended. Towel service was almost non existent... if you didn't dump your towel in the tub they literally did not change your towel. Apart from 2 bath towels that the 3 of us had to share, there weren't any other towels you'd normally expect in a full fledged hotel ( ie hand towels etc ).

The pool was a murky brown from high usage during that period. (but we still went for a dip.. just no dunking ). The walls were amazingly thin, we could hear everything from our neighbours and above us. Of course it didn't help that the hotel seemed to be at full occupancy at that time and the families staying there were quite chaotic and noisy. Kids were screaming and bathing way past midnight.

Breakfast was provided but it seriously was a joke. The families there were like locusts, sweeping the trays of food empty the minute they appeared from the kitchen. Not that the food was really any good. At least there was also fruit buffet. The local coffee was their saving grace!

Hotel aside, the main reason for going to KB was to see the family, and most of the time spent there was in the main home. We had the celebratory reunion dinners at restaurants over 3 nights, all of which were 10 course meals! Food was average but the company was good. This time round I was better prepared, and prepacked all of Madison's meals for the days we were to be there. A good thing too... not much suitable for her to eat since we didn't have any home cooked meals.

We were glad to come back home at the end but the flight back was pretty bad. Madison was crying on the last flight back to Singapore; I think her ears were hurting her as she was recovering from a cold. Pa and Ma came to pick us up from the airport, which was a great relief, as then we had some respite from looking after her continously for the past 4 days. I think she was glad to be home too and had her first freshly cooked dinner in days!