I know that toddlers and kids can be a handful on holiday trips. In fact, they can be a handful on the most normal of days. We knew that before Judy booked our flights and accommodations. We knew that ever since we had our own toddler to be honest. But it didn't stop us from booking a trip anyway. In fact, bringing Jakjak on the trip was a reason in itself to go on this holiday. This is part of his birthday celebration (which he is happy about).
Jakjak has a curiosity in him that is complemented by his wild imagination. The effects of watching Nat Geo and History HD has actually given him a broader perspective of the world around him (I reckon he already knows how small we are in the grand scheme of the world). This reality is augmented in turn by his much loved Dr. Seuss books. So I can only imagine his brain thinking about talking elephants walking down the streets of Penang. Which is highly unlikely, but we tend not to discourage him.
One thing you have to expect when you have Jakjak with you is to expect the unexpected. One moment his spirits are up and high and the next he's down and miserable (taking down everybody with him). The best way to cope with these mood swings is to initially go with the flow and slowly re-direct. It doesn't always work, and it is usually a frustrating few minutes before we get him down to a manageable mood.
Toys and games are another way to reign control back momentarily (at least until you get your bearings back). We only brought 1 of his toys on this trip (he wanted to bring his entire drawer - because he said he would miss them), but ended up getting him bits and pieces along the way. Our iPod batteries were drained every night because it's the only way to get control back sometimes. But again, the only way to enjoy this trip was to get everybody on the same page at the same time. Patience (boatloads of it) is key. Luck comes in second. And third is, well, since there was no plan to begin with, simply enjoy the ride (however rough it may be at times).
The plan was to lounge all day and soak in the tub. That was because after a tiring day, we did not really look up much about things to do and places to go in the city center of Kuala Lumpur. Not until the morning anyway.
We deposited our bags in one of the luggage drops at KL Central, our flight not until 6 more hours, we figured that we had time to kill. If only it wasn't so hot.
Central was your typical metropolitan city. Buildings everywhere, buses, cars, chaos. Well, not as chaotic as some places I've seen, but chaotic enough to be near annoying. In order to get to the mall (shopping, window shopping), we needed to take a train further in to the city. What we have in Singapore, is leagues better compared to KL, but it's decent public transportation. Unfortunately, there aren't that many english translations on the signage and it becomes a guessing game. Yep, another great day to get lost.
Our exploration this time was urban. Nothing really spectacular where we walked to, but this place is definitely bustling compared to Penang. The malls were clean and plenty. We managed to walk through 3 interlinked malls that offered food, shopping and shelter during our waiting time. Prices were decent, it was slightly cheaper here than in Singapore, but only just. There were more toys (variety) here as well, which was all me and Jakjak needed to know. However, traveling light meant no excess baggage. So we had to manage our hand carry bags.
Buses, or what they call coaches here are a good way to travel. They have enough room for weary passengers and their luggage. Even loud kids. It was also comfortable enough to catch a cat-nap on the way to the airport. We finally landed in Singapore by 10PM and the rest is history. It was tiring, but I have to ask, is there any trip that isn't?
This was going to be a tightly packed day. We had half a day left for Penang and the rest of the day has been marked for travel from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, road trip! No, not really.
We headed off to have breakfast at Ai Koh as early as we were able to (all things considered, we managed pretty good). I'm not familiar with history or old Chinese traditional eateries, but if I was adept, I would say that this place was it. It not only had the ambience, but it had great tasting food as well. Best dimsum I've had so far. Jakjak wasn't all that impressed nor happy about it, but I take it because we had to wake him up way before his usual call time (which is 10AM).
The time we consumed for transit between Penang and KL was an un-godly 4 hours. This included land transfers, air travel, airport waiting time and wading time (those odd moments that we had to stop for absolutely no reason). Somehow, we survived without getting too mashed up with each other (don't ask me how, I was surprised myself). So we arrived at our KL hotel (Pacific Regency, Kulala Lumpur) just within supper time, and what a relief that hotel room was. After the slight chaos with travel, the punishing hot weather and Manila-reminding traffic, our suite was paradise.
Not wanting to waste any more time than necessary, we made our way to KL's Petronas Towers. It, thankfully was just a few blocks from our hotel, it had restaurants and malls and was just right to end our day. Dinner at Nando's was good, and Jakjak made it his goal to arrange and re-arrange the four spice bottles in that fancy looking rack while waiting for our food. And even with a little bit of resistance, supper ended up better than expected. Of course, Jakjak had motivation as the restaurant was situated inside KLCC and the mall was just above us, perfect for hunting toys. And hunt he did, because by the time we got home, he managed to snag a good number of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars (and so did dad). I was not really that impressed with the towers. I don't know if I was just tired or if we just didn't have the right angle of view. But my short time there did not get any of my juices flowing. It's a great piece of architecture, yes, but I did not find it very inviting nor grand. Maybe I was just tired.
We retired to a great king sized bed that fit the 3 of us comfortably and Jakjak retired to a bath tub soaked warm bath.
I woke up early enough in the morning for my photo-walk as it was proving to be a chore to do it with both Jakjak and Judy in tow all the time. We were moving all the time to keep Jakjak distracted. So I managed a good old and rustic shoot for my personal collection and got back home in time to take the two out for brunch.
One extra thing we packed for the trip are "emergency rations" which consisted of instant noodles, single pack cereals and oat bars. The noodles were a best seller as this day proved.
We asked for a "teksi" from the front desk as our own attempt to map our route proved to be unreliable. Uncle taxi driver was kind enough to bring us to our first two sites, the Reclining Buddha Temple and a Burmese Temple. Both were interesting in their own way. The reclining buddha temple was where we looked for our star sign counterparts and where Jakjak offered to the deities. The Burmese temple was a little less serious, but more diverse than the RB temple we were at. A little more than half an hour later and we were back with Uncle, ready to take us to our next destination, Penang Hill.
Penang Hill gave us cool winds, a good meal and a view. It overlooks most of Penang and for roughly a buck, you can see the sights through a pair of binoculars. What tickled Jakjak's fancy here was actually a big heavy snake. I don't like snakes, they give me goosebumps. Apparently not Jakjak. One other highlight was Penang Hill's train which shoots up and down the hill (literally) to ferry guests. Climbing up a hill on a near vertical climb with sufficient knowledge about gravity is a bit scary. But we loved it, it was a great way to travel.
Dinner led us to Georgetown's White Coffee restaurant. It seems like white coffee is a country wide claim to fame. Georgetown did not disappoint. Another great meal, a good night's walk home, a near-perfect ending to another "we got lost" day (you would need to discount the tantrum attacks to make it perfect, unfortunately).
Surprisingly, the day did not start as grumpy as we were expecting. You see, waking Jakjak up before 9AM usually meant a struggle (he is simply not used to waking up early). So, we managed to get our acts together and taxi our way to the airport. To the wrong terminal. So it was good that we had time to spare for breakfast and walking.
This is not the first time Jakjak would be flying, in fact, he's flown more times than I have in his 6 years than I have in my 36 odd ones. The only thing that was not so pleasant was the waiting. That coupled with Jakjak's occasional impatience and baby tantrums made waiting time feel longer than it actually is. However, we did survive, and it was not a reason to not enjoy our trip.
Georgetown is a heritage site. And it showcased a living, breathing piece of Malysia's history. I, personally, am a big fan of old towns. Coming from one myself, there is a certain charm that only these types of towns can manifest. For the most part of the day, Jakjak had been happily enjoying the trip (as tiring as it was proving to be), and mum was as well (planning and setup credits to mum's superb bargain hunting skills).
Kids, for the most part, are generally not interested in going out for trips. Not unless it's a trip to the toy store or grandma's house. We are happy to report that Jakjak did enjoy going on this trip. Tantrums aside, he was generally cooperative and curious when we visited the Kuan Yin temple (I think, I'm not 100% sure if it's the right temple). I guess growing up with Nat Geo and Discovery Channel in your TV viewing helped to arouse his curiosity and at the same time his interest in things other than toys and playing. We also managed to get to the Chocolate Boutique where we all enjoyed tasting chocolates (chili-chocolate anybody?) and buying some ourselves.
We went armed with nothing but tidbits of information, cabin baggage, bumblebee (for Jakjak) and minds set for adventure. It was a good day to get lost.
Jakjak's first birthday was spent at the Little Angels' Home in Tagaytay City, Philippines. It's an orphanage that we found hiding in it's little nook over the hills. We have supported the children there as best as we could when we found it. At first, only a handful of people had helped us on our mission but that soon grew to a good number through our friends and organizations. We spent our first birthday there because we wanted to give back for our wonderful gift, our very own Jakjak (who had a not so ideal birth).
Up until today, we never really celebrated Jakjak's birthday outside of our family (we celebrated once in Lola's school where he was a temp student). Today, we agreed on celebrating Jakjak's birthday in his school (his current pre-school). Somehow, all of his classmates seemed to have celebrated their birthdays in school. It's not peer pressure, nor did he ask us to give him a birthday celebration in school, we just thought about giving him one. He did good in school and he had always been such a darling at home. He deserves this treat (we found out later that you can't celebrate birthdays when he steps up to primary school - so it's good that we had one now).
This party was all mum's idea. Dad won't take any credit for it. Dad was merely there to support every step of the way. And we're all happy that it turned out quite good. Instead of a big cake that we would need to cut up for everybody, we opted instead to get a set of cupcakes made for Jakjak's birthday theme, cars. Goodie bags for his classmates were segregated for girls and boys and some fun was had with relighting candles to blow (and blow and blow). We figured everybody in class had fun, and that's what birthdays are all about.
(Unfortunately, Jakjak came up with a fever that night - sigh)
I see parents with 1-2 year olds and I can't help but think about the days when we were in the same boat ourselves. Being aware of the things happening around Jakjak. Guidig him as he masters the art of walking, running and hiding (from worry-some mum and dad). Sometimes you know you look weird doing the things you do, but you actually don't care. You have the love of your life with you, so looking like a silly Billy does not really matter.
I love it when I see what parents try to do to keep their toddlers in place, or to chase them, or to simply make them smile and laugh. I'm sure many fathers and mothers (and uncles and aunts and grandmas and grandpas) would agree that when you are at that "high" having a good time with you kids, you tend to do things that you probably thought would not normally do. Silly faces, silly poses, silly sounds and every other silly thing that you can think of. But it's all ok. Those moments you spent are rewarded by smiles and tiny little laughs. It is rewarded by some little guy having the time of his life making yours as eccentric as you could be.
It's not all about the joys of course. The guidance of parents help build a child's own independence. I've noticed that if a child knows that there is someone there looking after him, he can be as daring as he can be. And if he is, then he grows up faster, he learns quicker and he can exploit his own potential (okay, maybe not that far). But because he knows you are there, he can be free to do things that makes him, himself.
You do have to give him enough space though. There is a line between being overprotective and downright inconsiderate. And this is true for other parents as well. We have our own criteria on how we raise our kids. So we should simply reserve our judgement when we see other parents raising their children in a way that is different from ours. What matters is that they should know what they are doing. And so should we.
