Hiroshima

Our second morning in Fukuyama was lousy, it was raining so the plan to visit the castle across the street was thrown out of the window. Instead we spent the whole morning doing what city folks do - shopping ... Sofia and I hit the mall at the train station, enjoying the fashion display, toys, etc ... Our hands were definitely itching in our pockets but the dangling price tags do serve their purpose well. They are just like the mosquito repellents placed strategically back home to keep away the bugs, but here, the price tags repels my hands very effectively!

Daddy got back late in the afternoon and we made our way to our next stop - Hiroshima, via the bullet train. Sofia was all excited to take the train (again!) and indeed, she was very well behaved. We guess it could be due to the cold weather, she would obediently let me put on all the layers and sit quietly in the stroller. She probably realised that sitting in there will keep her warm.

This is Japan savoury pancake, Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き). It is very popular in Osaka and Hiroshima and the way it is made differs between the two cities. This is the first time we are trying the Hiroshima pancake and Sofia loves it. Well, she just love anything that is SWEET.

The next morning, we headed to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum. The museum exhibit presents the facts of the atomic bombing, with the aims of contributing to the abolition of nuclear weapons throughout the world, and of promoting world peace. The Peace Memorial Museum collects and displays belongings left by the victims, photos, and other materials that convey the horror of that event, supplemented by exhibits that describe Hiroshima before and after the bombings and others that present the current status of the nuclear age. Each of the items displayed embodies the grief, anger, or pain of real people. It was heart-wrenching to walk through the museum, looking at the exhibits and to learn that many of the victims were children at school.

We could not spend as much time as we would have liked at the museum as Sofia was super bored. No games, nothing interesting (to her), everyone was solemn and quiet, except her. Once we exited the museum and entered the park, she was overjoyed.

Here are some photos taken while we were running around at the park:

Sofia outside the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

An accidental photo of us taken by Sofia at random, I am surprised it turned out well!

A "tiger" set free at the park.

Sofia and "her" fountain.

The atomic bomb dome.

A huge train engine replica at the park.

We ended the long day with a beautifully cooked omerice which tasted just as good.

First Stop at Fukuyama

Sofia and I started off with an early morning flight from Taoyuan airport to Kansai airport (Osaka). The plan was to make our way to Fukuyama via trains and meet Daddy for dinner. The ride on the plane was pretty smooth and before we landed at Osaka, Sofia dozed off and the bumpy part started.

I woke her up after we touched down and in a blurry state of mind, she WET her pants! Of course she was very uncomfortable and stood there at the plane's exit, wailing at me to change her pants and all. I had no extra change of clothes and the soonest would only be possible after we collect our luggage. So I pulled her along, heading to the nearest toilet first to empty her bladder. After that came the luggage collection and change of clothes for her in the toilet. I was completely thrown off balance with having to manage the big luggage, stroller and Sofia.

Once that all was done, we headed to the train station to buy our tickets. What came next was yet another surprise. The lady advised me to buy the train tickets to Shin-osaka and Fukuyama at the airport as it would be cheaper and I readily agreed. I requested for reserved seats on the Shinkansen (Osaka to Fukuyama) as it would be an hour ride. She could not find any two seats that were next to each other so she proposed to have us seated in the "SILENCE CAR" and that was the only way out. SILENCE CAR!!!??? Yes, we are suppose to KEEP QUIET and NOT TALK in the car. I had no choice but nodded ... back in my mind, I was racing for a solution, how am I suppose to keep a 3yo QUIET for a good one hour?

This was the sticker behind every seat to remind all the passengers to KEEP QUIET. My solution? I took out all the snacks I had in my goodie bag and offered them to Sofia, no questions ask. It must have been the best train ride for Sofia in her life, snacks round the hour, no strings attached ... With that, I had her munching non-stop all the way to Fukuyama. At least the munching sound from her mouth is not that audible ...

We checked into the New Castle Hotel at about 4pm, our room had a gorgeous view of the castle across the road. The plan was to check out the castle tomorrow morning while Daddy is away for meeting.

There was also a beautiful cathedral across the road but seems a bit far to walk to. We went to grab some lunch and washed up before taking a short nap, it was such an eventful day for just the two of us.

Holiday in Taiwan

I finally went for my overdue holiday with Daddy and Sofia end of April to Taiwan and Japan. It was a business trip for Daddy and he extended it in Japan for our break.

I took it so slow in Taiwan that we practically did nothing except spending wonderful time with my cousins, enjoying home cooked food and chatting away.


Sofia, as usual, started off shy and reserved but when she realised that there was an endless supply of chocolates and cute crackers popping out of the fridge and cupboards, she need not hide behind me anymore!


Life is much more delicious with 舅舅 and 舅妈 who gives her things that Daddy and Mummy do not. Oh, it was sooo EASY to win her heart! After a few big chocolates and cookies, she was practically eating from their hands and playing with them! Looks like my cousins have not forgotten the way to win a child's heart after 20+ years.

It was a good weekend there in Taipei city, before we headed off to Japan (Fukuyama) to join Daddy.

Sleeping Through

Jeremiah is finally sleeping through the night now without asking for milk at night BUT he has developed another sleep disruption habit.

He seems to have a very punctual body clock which goes off at 5am which triggers him to wake up and look for me. If I do not attend to him, he will sit there and scream the whole house down. If I go over and coax him, he would want me to CARRY HIM AND SLEEP, as if I am nursing him!!

Last night, it irritated me terribly, he still refused to sleep on his own after carrying him for half an hour. So I just let him cry it out. And cry he did! He screamed, shouted, yelled, hollered at the break of dawn for half an hour. When he realised no one is coming to his aid afterall, he shut his mouth and laid down to sleep on his own. I was relieved the torture was only 30 mins but I am sure my neighbours were cursing me for waking them up at that unearthly hour.

I plan to do this again to help Jeremiah kick this bad habit, hope it does not take too long.

March Events

It has been such an eventful March for us, many things happened and some have probably already slipped my mind ...


1. Jeremiah has finally started teething with 4 teeth at one go, there were a couple of nights in a row where he woke up every hour. It was the ultimate test of endurance for me. Fortunately my mum came over this month to lend me a hand and I could catch some sleep during the day when Sofia napped.

Despite all the night wakings, the boy was still his usual cheerful and energetic self. Jeremiah was also down with a chesty cough and cold for 2 weeks and after it was all gone and done, the finale came with a fever and skin rash. During this period, he broke his own record with a record 5-hour morning nap. We were so very worried if he was alright cos he has never took a nap this long! After the nap, we were all relieved to see him playing and eating again, phew!


2. Daddy has been travelling a lot again so my "single-mum" days are back again. Sofia misses Daddy a lot when he is away, she will always ask me "Where is Daddy?" and "Let's pick up Daddy from the office?". So when her hero is back she will be all over him, tailing him wherever he goes.

Daddy will try to come back with presents for her and here, she was trying to cover Daddy with her new clothes.


3. Sofia and Jeremiah loves to bang on the piano together. I don't know how my neighbours take it, they are probably very disturbed by the noise pollution we create day and night. Sofia loves to sing and dance too and the best part is Jeremiah loves to join in. He would stand, hold on to something and sway with the music, or sometimes, he would go "WAH BAH BAH BAH BAH! MAH MAH HOO!" , which makes everyone laugh!



4. We celebrated Daddy's birthday as well with Jeremiah in the picture now. When Sofia saw the cake delivered to our house, she was so excited over the birthday celebration that she kept singing the happy birthday song over and over again! Of course she could not wait too, kept asking me to take the cake out and cut it, arrrghhhh!!



5. I also came to know my good friend, R, is going back home for good mid-April. It came very sudden due to family reason and everyone has little time to react. We will spend some time catching up before the whole family moves, hope we will meet again soon.