After a long hiatus, I am finally back to writing. Been just too busy and this is mainly due to the little one. This has been because missus and I have lately become more preoccupied with trying to raise our daughter’s literacy. She will be going into elementary school next year and we’ve been fretting over her lack of sight word recognition.
We sometimes wonder why we’re so stressed over this. Thinking back to the time when we entered the first year of elementary school, we never had to be able to recognise words or read. I recalled that all we probably knew were the letters of the alphabet.
Now children in Singapore in pre-school have to learn phonics. We tried to help her by enrolling her in after school enrichment classes. We also had started to use the evenings after school and work to practice with her.
I have one major gripe with phonics and it is that English is too syncretic in its origins and has too many exceptions for phonics to work. A simple word like “my” for instance. M is mer and y is yee so how did it end up being pronounced as mai and not mee as is the case in the word astronomy?
Another source of frustration. I realised that I can’t pronounce the word “author” without making it sound like “otter” — something which the missus had mercilessly teased me for. How we discovered this was that our daughter’s class was supposed to be visited by a children’s book author. But when I told my wife, she thought that some zookeeper was bringing a wild animal into class…😑
Slowly but steadily, despite the challenges (the little one’s and us as tired out parents), the lil one had been improving. Something we can count our blessings for and to remember that each child develops at his/her own pace and that we should be patient so as not to dampen their enthusiasm and curiosity to learn. Something I must try hard to live by.
Have not been writing for a few months. Mainly due to being busy with other things but also the fact that there wasn’t that much to write about on the family/parenting front. Still, it doesn’t mean that we’re sticking to the same routine. We’ve actually been expanding our options for weekend / leisure activities and not relying on the tried and tested.
Jungle gym concept with plenty of Freeform climbing
I would like to see it more from the perspective that trying something different / new had become less noteworthy and more the norm — hence, not much of a motivation to write about. I am taking more of an attitude of experiencing new things, letting it sink in for a while, before thinking about whether to write about it. Or maybe that’s what I tell myself to excuse my tardiness.. hahaha
We recently visited the newly opened Margaret Market. This is a new eatery and retail space located within a conservation building built in 1956 as a wet market within Queenstown which was Singapore’s first public housing estate. In the building’s previous iteration before the makeover, it had a huge “38” painted against a red roofing panel (see below).
Back to the playground, it’s nestled between Margaret Market and the newly completed Sky Residence @ Dawson [link] public housing development. The playground consists of a platform for a tube slide, a network of ropes for freeform play / climbing and a mini spinning wheel / merry-go-round.
We had slowly conditioned the little one to be more independent in playing and not expect either missus or me to hover around and rescue her at the slightest bit of distress. This playground allows her to play quite independently as the obstacles (mainly climbing cargo net for the tube slide) are quite manageable for her as she becomes more physically capable and confident.
During the weekend early evenings / late afternoon when we visited, you can expect there to be a good number of families with children of various ages there. I would say that the playground would be more suitable for children at least 4 years of age as the equipment (provided by Kompan) requires children to have some rudimentary to intermediate climbing skills to get around — though there is also a more accessible obstacle in the form of a staircase to reach the top of the tube slide.
The verdict on the playground, on evidence of the little one being totally at ease with running and climbing about, is that it’s a great outdoor space. It is mostly shaded at around 5 plus and it will be especially nice when it gets breezy.
Lil one having a picnic…
The great part about this is that since it is quite popular, our little girl gets to interact with other kids as well as sometimes grownups who might help her or speak with her. Two occasions stand out. One was of an older girl giving her instructions on how to spin in the merry-go-round and the other was another parent giving her a hand in climbing down from the cargo net obstacle. Being an only child, such experiences are invaluable to our daughter.
I would highly recommend this playground for both for the design and the overall experience. Families can probably plan their evenings around it as they will be able have an early dinner (which is the norm for families with young children) at Margaret Market after the kiddos are done playing.
That’s it for this blog post. Not sure when I’ll write the next one. Thanks for reading. Signing off for now.
I have not been keeping up with writing so apologies that this came out many months after the fact. But I had really wanted to record my family’s experience of the hotel which was our temporary home away from home for our visit to Kyoto. So here it is, three months late.
The lounge at Hotel The M’s Kyoto
We found this hotel with the thinking that we should stay as close to Kyoto Central Railway Station as possible. Hotel The M’s Kyoto at Hachijoguchi is a short five minute walk via the southern side of the station. I was sold on the hotel by the good reviews and ratings it had — many of the reviews mentioned the hotel to be child friendly. I looked also through photos of the lounge and room and found the ascetics and atmosphere of the hotel to be warm and inviting. The cost was also surprisingly not expensive given its great location.
A swing in the middle of the lounge.
On the night of our arrival in Kyoto, we had an unexpected challenge getting to the hotel. Arriving at Kyoto Station via the Kansai Airport Express Haruka (cutely decked out in its Hello Kitty livery), we were confronted by labyrinth of numerous crowded passage ways to get to the southern side of the station. On hindsight, it was a bad idea to take the train especially considering that we had the little one with us. Credit to her and my missus, they patiently waited while I tried to figure out which way to go. We did eventually make our way out and found the hotel on a cold rainy night. However, my unfamiliarity with Kyoto Station would pose a problem for us again later on.
Upon reaching the hotel, we were greeted warmly by the very helpful and professional staff. Checking in was quick and easy. The room was surprisingly spacious even when an additional bed was set up for the little one alongside the standard queen sized bed. Quite amazingly, the room even had space for a small sofa and table (see below). The bed frames had space underneath which allows you to stow your luggage away should you prefer your room to be more uncluttered. The space beneath did have an unintended effect though. One night, the little one fell off her bed and rolled underneath — causing Missus and me to go into panic mode until she crawled out and revealed herself….
The little one “working” on her “laptop” at the sofa and table….
Amenities close to the hotel, besides the train station and it’s many eateries, included Kyoto Avanti which had eateries in its basement level and Tully’s Coffee at the ground level. Despite this, finding breakfast around the hotel was slightly challenging. The eateries and cafe at Avanti open late (10 am). The few eateries at Kyoto station which open early would usually be packed and you would need to queue to get in (Inoda Coffee, Hoshino Coffee, etc). For days when we needed an early start to sightseeing, we got bread from Sizuya Bakery at Kyoto Station the night before. For a cup of morning coffee, we got it from the nearby 7-Eleven.
Our regular meal booth at the lounge7-Eleven coffee…
The lounge at Hotel The M’s was for us the star player for our holiday. For times when we needed to have an early breakfast, it was a cozy place to munch our Sizuya bread while sipping 7-Eleven coffee. On a few nights, we tucked into Horai 551 for dinner at the lounge. Famous for its butaman (meat buns), they also have great shumai (little meat dumplings) and other eats. Though it was technically “fast food”, its great quality and the environment at the hotel lounge made us feel like we were eating a nice meal at home.
Whimsical decorations at the lounge…
On Horai 551, there were several outlets at Kyoto Station. For our first Horai dinner, our unfamiliarity with Kyoto Station gave us an unplanned memorable experience. To get from north to south side of the station, there were actually two simple and convenient ways: via a pedestrian bridge which spanned across the western end of the station or an underground passage way under the eastern end. We discovered a third arduous way that felt like we were on the way to Mordor…
Sheep grazing on a tennis court.
In my eagerness to avoid the crowded spaces and not understanding how to access either of the two easy ways, as the chief navigator of our little crew of three, I decided to skirt around the station on its eastern side. This involved going through residential areas, climbing up sloping viaducts — all of which add up to a 20 minute trek and cold butaman and shumai at the end of it. Missus saw the positive side of this: some exercise and a memorable experience. After that, we made sure to scout out both of the orthodox routes to traverse between the north and south sides of the station.
Lastly, I would recommend anyone to forgo the idea of taking the train for airport transfer. It would simply be too much of a hassle especially if you’re travelling with young children. The pro way of airport transfer would be to take the airport limousine bus service run by Keihan. The bus stop for this service is conveniently located at Kyoto Avanti’s north eastern corner and tickets can be purchased over a counter there during office hours or via a machine at all hours of the day (please be warned that you might need to know some Japanese or Chinese to use the machine). This was what we did for our return home. It was definitely much easier to wheel our luggage for 3 minutes to Avanti than to navigate Kyoto Station — even if you’re familiar with the station.
In summary, I would say that this was a great hotel for our family. The location was great and it was super convenient — when you know what to do and where to go. We loved the warm and whimsically designed lounge. It was the highlight of the hotel. I would recommend this hotel to families travelling with young children — just be sure to not leave a gap if you have two beds set up for you in your room!
Before our trip, we had consulted ChatGPT to plan an itinerary for Kyoto. It was rather limited as the AI took it rather literally that we wanted to spend all of our time in Kyoto — or I wasn’t using the right prompt. It only suggested Kyoto City Zoo, Kyoto Aquarium and the Kyoto Railway Museum.
Missus and I liked the latter two ideas but not the first — we haven’t even been to the zoo back home in Singapore. Missus Googled and found that it was possible to do a day trip to Nagoya for Legoland Japan. The little girl liked making things with her Duplo blocks and we thought this would be most meaningful to her. So off we went.
We hadn’t bought tickets before we left for Japan to keep things flexible. No problems though as the tickets could be easily bought online and stored in your e-wallet. Then we needed to get Shinkansen tickets to get to Nagoya (which was around 100 km away from Kyoto where we were based). This could be bought from either a ticketing machine (using cash) or at a ticketing counter. Not wanting to queue, we took the ticketing machine option. The ticket cost around ¥5,000-6,000.
Lil girl’s day pass to Legoland
It was slightly challenging to use the machine as my Japanese is limited to recognising kanji (basically traditional Chinese characters) and hiragana and katakana characters — the latter doesn’t mean much because I can read but I’ve almost zero vocabulary (same as a toddler knowing his/her ABCs but very little words). I ended up only buying one-way non reserved tickets — which meant we need to get tickets in Nagoya to find our way back to Kyoto.
We had a late start to the day, so we arrived in Nagoya past noon and took some more time to travel by a local subway to Kinjofuto station along the Aonami line which Legoland is served by. Credit to the little one. She never complained, at least not vehemently, through the long commute lasting more than one hour.
In the vicinity of Legoland was an area called, “Maker’s Pier” which houses several F&B establishments. As we had a late start, we just got bento at the train station in Nagoya to have a picnic lunch. Maker’s Pier had an artificial lawn where there was also a musical fountain. Our little one was really comfortable running around on her own when we were there. She really went wild when the fountain show started — bouncing around like an excited puppy.
Can you spot the puppy on the loose?
After the picnic lunch, we headed into the Legoland. This was already around 2pm — this would have repercussions for our visit. Our first stop was a merry-go-round ride. This consisted of “horses” in various shapes and forms (some are unicorns, tigers, etc) in the inner ring and “boats” seating three in the outer ring. Parents with children opting for “horses” would’ve to stand. Thankfully, despite our encouragement, the Lil one opted for a “boat” so we could all sit for the ride!
After the ride, we headed for a kiddy train ride but the Lil one did not want to wait in line (estimated to be 30 minutes). So we went to the Duplo Valley play area where there were Duplo pieces of every imaginable shapes and sizes. Like a kid in a candy store she was giddy with joy at the many toys she could play with.
Behold, the Tower of Power…
The Lil one could probably spend the whole afternoon playing with Duplo. However, we saw that there was a Lego factory tour and thought that we should join — it’s more for Missus and myself (the Lil one was not at the stage at to appreciate the details behind how things were made).
Chart showing the history of Lego.
There was a fair bit of crowd for this one. The tour consisted of a video show (Japanese with subs) and a factory floor showcase. Think this was expectedly more fun for Missus and myself. The Lil girl just sort of put up with it. She had to cut off her Duplo playing binge to indulge us. We appreciated her for that!
Commemorative Lego brick for the factory visit.
After the tour, we went to a play area for Lego bricks. The concept of the play area was for children to build anything they want, take a picture with it and leave their work at a display area. Maybe because she’s more familiar with Duplo, she was less ecstatic than was the case earlier. It was still fun for her but the dial was maybe at a 7 to 8 and not 11 for Duplo. She built a robot with the various odds and ends pieces. We were trying to find axle and wheel pieces for her but couldn’t — guess these pieces must’ve been really popular.
Lil one with her little robot…
At the play area, we were informed by the staff there that the park would close at 4pm. This was the part we didn’t anticipate. We had assumed without checking that the closing time would at the earliest be around 5pm. So from then on, we had to manage the time carefully as we only had slightly less than an hour.
Lil one posing with her creation.Can you spot the little robot?
We wanted to buy her a set of Lego blocks as a memento for our visit. Many other parents had the same idea. There was a long snaking queue forming at the cashier like it was a popular ride. Missus stood in queue with the Lil one while I went around in the store to look for something. We managed to find a reasonably priced Legoland Train Set (2 thousand plus yen) which seems to retail in Singapore at a much higher price.
Despite the hectic end to our Legoland visit, think it was still enjoyable for us. Missus ans I really enjoyed seeing the Lil one running free and really enjoying herself. Lil Missy enjoyed playing with more Duplo and Lego blocks than she had ever seen before. The availability of pieces that she had never played with before must have been an eye-opener for her.
That’s it for this post. Thanks for reading. Would like to write a few more posts of the places we visited during our trip. Hope I can find the time to do it. Till next time, stay healthy and safe everyone.
As a parent, we always discover new things about our child as well as new things about ourselves through different situations. Since Covid-19, our little family of three (Missus, Lil Missy and me) had not had a holiday requiring any long travel time. We’ve taken one in late-2020 but that required only a ferry ride and car ride. It wasn’t cabin fever inducing.
For our first faraway-ish holiday, we had chosen to go to Kyoto. It was a place that missus and me had fond memories of and wanted to create new ones with the little one. The first thing for us to prepare for and get through was a five plus hours plane ride from Singapore to Kansai airport and an hour plus commute from Kansai to Kyoto Railway Station.
Due to the high cost of plane tickets in general, we had chosen to go for a budget instead of full service carrier. The airline we chose was Scoot. Missus and me did some prep in anticipation of the Lil Missy wanting to climb the walls while the seat belt sign was on.
First Missus had heard from colleagues that to help young children get over the pressure in the cabin and the discomfort it causes to their little ears, it’s best to let them wear ear phones. For this, we got the JBL kids earphones.
Next. to have some content go with the ear phones, we downloaded some YouTube videos. To do this, we needed to get a YouTube Premium trial account. We downloaded the the little one’s usual staple of video content including Peppa Pig, Come Play with Me and old episodes of the Korean variety show,The Return or Superman. About the last show, our little girl has specific preference for old episodes with the Song Triplets (father Song Il-kook) and Choo Sarang (father Choo Sung Hoon / Yoshihiro Akiyama — who had a revival of fame by being a standout contestant in the Netflix gameshow Physical 100).
Not wanting Lil Missy to spend her 5-6 hours watching videos, Missus prepared sticker activity books, paper and colour pencils for scribbling and games.
In all the rush to try to keep the little one entertained, we actually forgot our own entertainment on the plane…. And I wasn’t going to pay for overpriced and slow as a snail wifi on a plane….
How the plane ride played out was that the little one came through it quite okay. Apart from some restlessness which saw her switch between the window seat and the middle seat with my wife, she was kind of well behaved. A pleasant surprise.
How did I fare in a budget flight without in flight entertainment and without any reading material which I neglected to bring on board? Happy to say, my sanity was intact though I had my moments which led me to laugh uncontrollably at the boredom.
Moment number one came when I saw a fellow passenger reading the in-flight menu as if it was the most revetting novel — I saw that he had a book with him and he resorted to this! The page he was “reading” was as below.
Maybe he really likes coffee or salty snacks…🤔
I found myself suppressing an uncontrollable chuckle at the sight of this. My daughter saw this and the curious little cat asked me. I didn’t know how to explain it to her so I just made up something about the passenger being very funny. At this time, missus was asleep I think and didn’t notice my descent into momentary insanity.
Moment number two: I started thinking about the message on the little piece of paper they placed over the headrest which read, “Feeling Restless?” My answer in my head was, “You bet!” Then I thought back to the moment when I chuckled at the in-flight menu reader and started a suppressed chuckle again….
Missus had been noticing my very feeble attempt at a digital detox and kindly lent me her AirPods for me to listen to some music. My sanity was restored…
All in, I thought that the little one and missus handled the longish flight way better than I did. My two moments of sliding into pseudo insanity were actually quite funny to me as they happened and just as funny when I thought back on them. They were, in fact, the two genuine moments of entertainment I had on this flight.
During this flight, I discovered that we underestimated the little one. I discovered that my wife is the calmest person in the family and finally, that I am quite hopelessly addicted to external stimulation due to my attachment to an internet-connected smartphone.
Thanks for reading. That’s it for another blog post. Stay healthy and safe everyone.
Ask the Clueless Middle Age Dad 