Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum is an interactive museum dedicated to instant noodles and Cup Noodles, as well as its creator and founder, Momofuku Ando. They open daily except Tuesdays. Do plan well before you travel. It was very easy to access by train and is within walking distance from the train station to the museum. We took the express train and reached there in 20 minutes time from the main station, Umeda station.
One of our highlights for our Osaka trip besides checking out the Pokémon centre, was to experience Japanese culture, in particular, learning samurai. I found out about this class while researching for things to do in Osaka and was so pleased that we tried a lesson!
One of the things to do with children in Osaka has to be a visit to the Pokémon Center! Both of my children love Pokémon and this was their top thing to do when we planned our holiday in Japan. This center, in fact, is a department store selling all the Pokémon items like soft toys, trading cards, shoes, clothing and many more. Just remember to bring lots of money if you’ve got big fans of Pokémon as it can get very expensive!
Kids Stop is an interactive centre designed for children aged 18 months to 8 years old by exposing them to science in their formative years. This was our first time visiting this place which is located next to the science centre. It is well worth going if you are also visiting the science centre. There are two types of admission fees: Singapore/PR or Foreign. I do think their fees are quite ridiculous especially if you are foreigner. The whole place is well designed with hands-on activities and programmes but the whole place is quite small and confined with not much seating areas for adults and there are two different opening times.
Let ’em Play is an indoor obstacle course and Augmented Reality climbing hub located in the West of Singapore. It is suitable for both adults and children. We travelled there by car and managed to park quite easily as there are a lot of car parks available on a Sunday afternoon. It is located at Tradehub21 (around industrial buildings) surrounded by furniture shops, restaurants, fast food, offices and many more. Their nearest MRT is Clementi station.
One of my favourite places to visit whenever I go back to Singapore is Chinatown. This place is crammed with a varied mix of past and modern sights, from temples, family-run goldsmiths and medicinal halls next to bars, restaurants and shops. It is also a great time and place to visit during Chinese New Year, especially as the dingy alleys will be packed with street hawkers, New Year’s snacks and live Chinese New Year celebration performers.
It is not often that I will visit tourist attractions when I go back to Singapore for a holiday. I have “been there and done that” through my teenage years and early adulthood so the precious time I have in Singapore is usually spent catching up with friends and family. However, during this latest trip, I decided to take the children to Merlion Park, to visit the famous Merlion statue.
Tampines Hub is a newly opened first-ever integrated community and lifestyle hub that offers a comprehensive and diverse range of services, programmes and facilities. We got there by car on a weekday where it was less busy. You can also take the MRT – Tampines station or the bus. It is very convenient to get there. This hub has a variety of sports facilities, a brand new regional library, countless community club programmes and amenities, arts programmes and facilities, a hawker centre, retail shops and many more user-friendly features. One of the facilities that we tried was the Clip n Climb by HomeTeamNS at level 3.
Octopus Hideout is a brand new underwater attraction that will mesmerise visitors at Birmingham’s National Sea Life Centre. It features Beverley the giant pacific octopus named after local singing sensation, Beverley Knight! She is a true master of disguise who can blend into her surroundings with her camouflage skills and squeeze into spaces as small as the head of the needle. In fact, she did hide so well that we couldn’t see her and her friends! Did you know that octopus have three hearts and blue blood? There are a lot of interesting facts that we learnt by visiting on this occasion.
This half term is the Mad Science Week at National Forest Adventure Farm. As well as this fabulous event, they offer lots of exciting indoor fun, outdoor adventure and farm animals. They are located in Burton upon Trent, within an hour’s drive from Stafford, Stoke, Nottingham, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Leicester etc. There is plenty of free parking plus disabled parking right at their entrance.
Last week, we decided to visit Mercedes-Benz World which was about 20 minutes from where we were in Thorpe Park. This was our second visit and each time we can spent at least 1.5 hours exploring exhibitions, getting up close to legendary Mercedes-Benz vehicles and sitting in a few!
This was our first official visit to Thorpe Park as their Blogger Ambassador for 2017. We are so excited to share their May Madness news to our readers. This month they are doing tons of awesome activities to celebrate their Annual Passholders! Of course, if you are not their annual passholder, you could ask for an upgrade to participate in their activities!
One of the many highlights of our Amsterdam trip were the visits to museums and art galleries using our Iamsterdam card! We bought the 72 hours Iamsterdam card online which gave us free entry to Amsterdam’s best museums and attractions, free canal cruise, free unlimited use of the GVB public transport in Amsterdam (bus, tram & metro), great discounts & special offers throughout Amsterdam & its surrounding area, a free, detailed city map, free giveaways & discounts on concerts, theatre, rentals, restaurants, etc. In order to take make the most of the card, we visited as many museums and galleries as we could!
Holidaying in Amsterdam? What foods should you try? It is not often that my husband and I are able to go on holiday by ourselves without the children. Luckily, both of my children were on a school camp for a few days so we decided to book ourselves a quick city break to Amsterdam. As it was a short holiday, I did some research for the foods to try before heading there. In this technological world and easy access to Google maps, I managed to pinpoint a few recommended places with ease.
Keukenhof is one of the world’s largest flower gardens with more than 7 million bulbs in bloom this spring, with a total of 800 varieties of tulips! It is situated in Holland and is only open for a short period of the year during spring. We were so lucky to coincidentally be in Holland before they close on 21 May 2017.
