Harris Resort Batam

Extremely crowded at the ferry terminal. The Ocean Raider (Batam Fast) was slightly late and we had to make a stop at Sekupang before reaching the Waterfront terminal. At the Harris Cafe now - waiting for our nasi goreng and pizza. As you can see from above, the pictures near the pool look nice - however, nothing prepare me for the bad experience which followed: The wooden planks were loose and one of the nail in the room came out and cut my boy’s toe. They should definitely replace the wooden planks especially those near to the bath area as the water had weaken the wood or the ground below it.

The incident which upset me was when I could not open up the safe box the second day. The room was quite a distant away and I had to go all the way to the reception to get help. When the housekeeping came, he told us that the battery was low which caused the problem. I moved all the content to the other room. When I wanted to go back to room 18, I realised that I could not open it with the card and had to rush to the reception again. The staff told me it could be my handphone which had affected the magnetic card – I reassured her that it was nowhere near my handphone and there was nothing wrong with the other room card which I had placed together. I reconfirmed with the staff that the new card was ok and she told me no problem. I rushed back to the room and realised that it still cannot be opened! I had to rush back to the reception which I had mentioned that was quite a distance away. Finally one of the staff came and told me that battery was low which made me real mad as I had never came across a hotel which locked the guest out due to low battery for the lock! Shouldn’t they change the battery more regularly for something so important as the safe box and door lock?

In fact when we checked in, I was already quite disappointed with the long queue and the lack of activities there. They did not allow us to top up our breakfast to lunch though I told them we could not wake up in time for the breakfast.

The air soft gun was sent for repair so my son did not have much to do. Thank god there was a DVD player. The wi-fi did not work in the room either though the staff told me it is available everywhere. The only place you can access wi-fi was the cafe. By the way, if you eat in the cafe – you will have plenty of flies for company –it spoilt my appetite as we have to chase away the flies with one hand and eat with the other. The food was expensive and the chicken wing which came with the nasi goreng was cold and tough! My total bill for 2 pizzas, 2 nasi goreng and some drinks came up to S$97!

The worst part was departure from Waterfront terminal – we went there at 12 noon so that we could check in early for the 2.10pm ferry. However after waiting for almost 2 hours, a church group came and they were given express check out! The Harris management did not mention that there could be express check out if you pay a fee. Quite unfair for those who came early and did not know that you can have express check out for a fee!

The only pleasant part of the Harris stay was the staff – very courteous and patient. However the resort and the system was a nightmare. After the lock incident, the manager sent a voucher for a night stay for 2 in the funky suite (with some T&C expiring in Sept- said will extend if I want to) and some fruits/cookies to the room. After such a nightmarish experience, do you think I will go back to Harris? I had stayed in different hotels in Batam (Planet, Panorama, Goodway, Harmonia, Formosa) but never had such a bad experience before .

Singapore Calendar 2011

NYEC Enmazing Race

A total of 10 teams from Sec 1 to Sec 3 enrolled in the competition. They were all exhausted racing around Singapore - from Bedok Reseroir, Kallang, East Coast Park, Esplanade to Marina Barrage, completing the different challenges at the stations such as educating the public on environmental issues such as energy saving and water resources in Singapore.

The lucky one who won a $10 voucher in the lucky draw.

Will I be the lucky one?

Finally - the last group which is a Sec 1 team coming in. Phew!

The pretty and energetic ECs. Simply love the camera!

The exhausted ECs.

Camera shy 3N team

The 3EAs - best sportsmanship as they attempted to complete all stations. Camera shy too!

Frustrated 2N/3N team - did not managed to complete all stations as they went to the wrong place.... could be better.

Missing a member but determined! Bobby's team (Sec 1) simply love the race though they were misled and lost time in Kallang!

The first team from SSS - well done guys..

JB Grand Paragon June 2010

Getting into JB was a breeze yesterday. Left my place at 10.55am and reached the Grand Paragon hotel at 1135am - just 40 mins instead of the usual 1.5 hr journey.

After we left the luggage at the conceige, we took a cab to Merlin tower to buy my medicine from the pharmacy and then lunch at City Square. We tried the buffet at Seoul Garden - not too bad considering that the price was almost half for the 4 of us - RM137. They actually allow a free choice of soup such as tomyam, abalone and ginseng chicken but my sons wanted the normal chicken soup. Free flow of drinks - soft drinks, coffee etc.

Shopped around and bought 2 t-shirt for my son and a t-shirt for myself. My son also bought a set of Japanese cartoon DVD.

Took a cab back to the hotel and checked into our D'Paragon room which has 4 queen sized beds. then we went for a swim. We had the whole pool to ourselves!

Breathtaking view as the pool is on the 11th floor - just 1 floor directly below us. Ian was quite exhausted after that and took a nap.

 

We went to Chez Papa for our dinner - thank God we had already made reservation as it was fully booked. We had foie gras as usual with the escargot. My sons tried a little bit of that too. They ordered Bologneise Sphagetti and we ordered roast spring chicken and steam fish. They loved the toast with butter so much that they went for second round! Went to Pelangi Plaza and bought the kueh lapis from lavendar cake shop - my son's favourite. Could not find the cable which we needed for our DVD player to the TV so we took a cab to Danga City Mall where there are quite a no. of IT shops on the 2nd level.

We went back to the hotel and watched the video as we could not get our internet connected (only managed to do so today). We decided to get some supper so we went to this hawker centre that is just behind the hotel - I think it is called Centre point hawker centre. We bought some BBQ chicken wings, satay and oyster omelete. My sons love the chicken wings - I will get some more tonight.

Breakfast in the hotel

Took a cab to Aeon Tebrau City and had lunch at Arashi Shabu Shabu. Hubby had Wagyu Rib Eye Shabu set plus oyster with Japanese Kombu Brooth and I had the Chinese herb broth with tiger prawn and scallop. We also ordered the salmon shasimi and Chris had the unagi set with rice and additional udon. Ian just wanted rice as he was still quite full from the breakfast buffet. I ordered KFC takeaway for him later. Bought some more DVDs from speedy video and also some t-shirts and shorts for Ian in Jusco. Ian also bought another car model from Toy R'us. Bought the kueh lapis again from lavendar and also some egg tarts from a portugese restaurant - their kueh will get you to come back for more!

NE manager Sentosa LJ

A learning journey to Sentosa was organised for the Sec 1- 3 NE managers on 25th May by Ms Liang and Mrs Lily Lee. As part of the training, the NE managers had a better understanding of the NE messages through their visit to the Images of Singapore and Fort Siloso at Sentosa.

National Education Messages
Singapore is our homeland; this is where we belong.We treasure our heritage and take pride in shaping our own unique way of life.

We must preserve racial and religious harmony.We value our diversity and are determined to stay a united people.

We must uphold meritocracy and incorruptibility.We provide opportunities for all, according to their ability and effort.

No one owes Singapore a living.We find our own way to survive and prosper, turning challenge into opportunity.

We must ourselves defend Singapore.We are proud to defend Singapore ourselves, no one else is responsible for our security and well-being.

We have confidence in our future.United, determined and well-prepared, we have what it takes to build a bright future for ourselves, and to progress together as one nation.

At the end of the LJ, the students handed in their reflections and were rewarded with a badge that was designed by Ms Loo.

National NYEC Enmazing race 2010 briefing

http://nyec-challenge.org/events/

The NYEC National En-mazing race is back! This year we have entered 10 teams and look out for them as they race around Singapore on 5 June 2010. The race will end before 4 pm and the closing ceremony will start at 6 pm. You might want to support them at the closing ceremony at City Square Mall (Farrer Park MRT). The theme for this year's race is based on water conservation and energy efficiency to fight climate change. All the best to all the 10 teams!

Please remember to report before 7.30 am at B1 Fountain Square at City Square Mall on 5 June (Sat).

During the briefing at Commonwealth Secondary today, the students were reminded the following:

1. To bring their pens, ezlink cards (with at least $10 value), fully charged handphone, the handout which contains the emergency contact no. of event i/cs.

2. The participants have to report before 7.30 am in the event t-shirt, shorts and covered shoes. They will be issued a race kit which includes poncho and a bottle of water.

3. The participants must travel as a team all the time and make use of public transport. They are given 20 mins at each station.

4. They must safeguard their team's scorecard and ensure that it is signed by the station master.

ELMO 3B03
nuriwani, filzah,jiaohao, shairul,melvin


Synergy 4C03
bobby,nayan,don,muazum,justin

Unity 1D03
felisa, fiora,jacob, sara,xue ying

EC Roar 2C03
danish,naresh,jiayi, syazwani,aishah

DMC 2B03
darrel, firdaus, syafiq, aleem, meng lam

Titans 5C02
cindy, huiyan, bryan, cassandra,jasmin

H2O 1B02
mirza, zhixun,solihin, iswandi, choon hao,

Oasis 2D05
karen, chintana, akmal, muhammad, dinesh

GEEKZ 1C03
syafiqah, ayu, nabilah, hasmin,haiqal

Coolio 3C02
charlene, stella, andreana, yue ying, yanli

National Stamp Collecting competition training workshop

8 teachers and 42 students from Serangoon Secondary attended the training workshop for the National Stamp Collecting Competition at the Philatelic Museum.

I think the students learnt a lot from Ms Lily Samuel and were actually given some materials for a simple hands-on session. The students learnt about the different philatelic materials and the proper way of mounting them to the exhibition sheets.

Some advice from the trainer.

1. All presentation must be in protrait and not landscape orientation.

2. There must be an introduction, body and conclusion as well as a captivating title just like telling a story.

3. To use only white paper and no fancy or coloured fonts. It must be typed and the font size should be 14 for title, 12 for boday and 10 for caption.

4. The 1st page which is the content page must contain the page number.

5. There must be at least 16 exhibition sheets - other than the content page, all pages must contain at least 60% philatelic materials.

6. The students should use a variety of philatelic materials e.g first day cover, zo cards, aerogram, used stamp, mint stamp, minature sheet, commercial cover, postal cancellation, metal cancellation, watermarks, postcards, slogan canellation and of course gems like colouur trail, progressive sheets, odd shaped stamps etc.

7. Stamps must not be torn and the images should be properly seen. It must be detached from paper by floating.

8. The students should only write the group's name at the back of the exhibition sheet and not the name or school.

9. The philatelic materials must be mounted upright and not slanted. A proper margin for the mounting strip and stamp must be observed.

Promenade station on circle line

11 more stations opened on 17 April for the circle line - I decided to try it out and made my way to Suntec city. The journey from Hougang station to Promenade station with a transfer at Serangoon station took me around 30 mins.

Picture I took in the Promenade station.

I have always been buying my grocery from Carrefour at the Plaza Singapore outlet as there is free delivery for purchases above $150 and they normally do it the very next day. This time round I decided to try the one at Suntec City. To my horror, after buying a whole cart of items, I was told that the earliest they could deliver was on Tues. I had to go to customer service to get help from the manager - he then told me that they will deliver on Sunday. I hope he kept his words -this would be my last shopping at Carrefour, Suntec City.

After that we went for dinner at Sizzler. I must say that the salad spread was impressive and I love the soups - the cream of mushroom and clam chowder. My husband love his steak and salmon. I tried the pork chop and the Swiss chicken which I would just rate average. The price was very reasonable, considering the variety served at the salad counter with dessert such as cut fruits, jelly and yogourt as well as the sumptuous spread of vegetables, pasta, mushrooms etc.