School holidays, took the opportunity to bring the family to the Its Playtime! indoor theme park and LEGOLAND in Nusajaya, opposite Kota Iskandar, Johor last weekend. Stayed for three days, two nights at Traders Hotel, Puteri Habour. When Esther mentioned about Johor, I imagine a bustling, traffic choking place. But the entire place, Kota Iskandar, is stress free, maybe because it is still under major, and I mean really major, development. It reminded me of Publika and Solaris Dutamas when I was amongst the first few tenants there. New and fresh. Five years later, well...Anyhoo, the first day, went to Its Playtime!, located within walking distance from the hotel, both situated within the Little Red Cube, a new mixed family outing, shopping centre which front a marina with numerous yachts. I never seem to be able to properly pronounce the word yacht (is it "yuck" or "yahrch"?). The hotel is great, with a skybar and heated pools. The kids and Esther, with Will, Karen and their kid, John, enjoyed themselves. After a quick Sushi King lunch (it's been a while since I drive "long distance", Esther took over while I napped over the second half of the journey), went to Its Playtime!, which houses Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, The Little Big Club and Lat's Place. We decided to skip Hello Kitty and Lat's Place due to the kids demand and went straight for The Little Big Club, which spread over two levels and show-cast familiar, popular children characters - Bob the Builder, Barney (he will always spook me out), Angelina Ballerina, Pingu (who?) and Thomas & Friends. The interactive activities and numerous rides made it worthwhile for the kids (and myself honestly. I enjoyed sharing these sort of activities with Chloe and Dylan. Bring the kid out of a late 30s old sourpuss in me again). After a swim (didn't join in and stayed at the side coz of the tattoos but a lot of youngsters and uncles didn't seem so coy. Tattoos seem to be the in thing now. Esther and Karen teased me for not being a "show off" and shy. Darn.) dinner at Brussels where after nice pork knuckles, burgers, and mussels washed down with several pints of white beers (sorry, hate lager), went for a early rest and nice sleep. Next day, after a tremendous portions of hotel breakfast, its time for the LEGOLAND Park. Just a short drive away, there are the dry park, the water park and a hotel. Although we arrived really early, there were already lots and lots of people queuing for tickets. There are so many rides and attractions. We skipped the water park though coz the dry park alone is tremendous. Chloe raised a short ruckus, for my dear timid daughter doesn't really like places which were hot and humid with long distance walk from one theme place to another, which is like me (believe me, I was sweating and drenched five minutes into the park). She also got really scared and cried, poor her, when we rode "The Dragon", the "most extreme" roller-coaster there. Esther and I consoled her by saying she had "Conquered the Dragon" and that helps. Dylan took it all in his stride and enjoyed himself tremendously, as well as John. All of us even repeated some of the rides (but no, no more conquering the Dragon). The primary attraction for me is actually the Miniland, which represents majority of the worlds major landmark, made of Lego bricks with sound effects and movement to boot. Gave me some ideas about my own toy collections diorama. The un-predictable weather (earlier was hot and humid, followed by raining of cats and dogs proportion, repeat) dampened the mood abit but its ok. We finally left after six hours worth of playtime together, and more importantly, the kids enjoyed themselves to the fullest, we made way back to the hotel, had dinner at Ying Ker Lou (great Chinese dishes), a bottle of wine at Expresso Garage (and another Caesar Salad. The café curiously has this "Wong Kar Wai-ish" feel to it. Think Chungking Express) and called it a night. We made home the next day around noon, after another tremendous portion of hotel breakfast spread (Esther "signal" that its time for my belly to stop "protruding out"). At Will's suggestion, we stopped by Johor Premium Outlets. Esther got herself some nice attires at discounted prices but I had to hold off from them after going in the direction of vintage repro stuffs. Esther insisted she drives and we finally arrived home at about seven in the evening, where Mom awaited and prepared dinner for us, including some delicious self made bak chang. Esther said I am a bak chang myself. I looked at Chloe and Dylan, and checked if they were happy with the trip. The resounding positive affirmation from them made me happy indeed and worth the journey (and money).
