Standing tall

Just now, was shocked by maid who was screaming in baby's room. Turns out she found Raelynn standing by the cot side. She had pulled herself to stand. Haha, this gal really faster than cheh cheh. We know that she can stand with support, she'll press herself against the bumbo chair or FP Laugh & Learn Grand Piano but have not seen her pull to stand yet. Too bad, we couldn't get a photo or video cos Filamie quickly carried her, she was afraid that she will fall over the cot side. Actually, it's not so dangerous cos I already told hubby to lower her cot bed last weekend.

The funniest thing is she can't even sit yet but she can crawl and is now learning to stand. Maybe she knows that Mummy is thinking of abandoning her for our year end holiday. Hubby and I were discussing and concluded that it'll be too exp if we got to pay child fare for a package tour to Taiwan for her, so she is trying to quickly learn to walk so that she won't get left behind. haha.

Anyway, talk about travelling, I was surfing the net and read a parent's (amylqf) post at Kiasuparents.com on how she travelled to Taipei F&E with her kid in Mar 2010. Hers is already 8 years old so probably easier but still, it's good to know what are the child friendly places to visit in case we really decide to go F&E to Taipei.

Taiwan holiday - child friendly free & easy tour

Our family had just came back from 4 days' Taipei vacation.
We brought out P2 daughter there and she enjoyed her trip.
I did the booking for the air tickets and hotel online.
The weather during March school holiday was around 15-25 degree.
so it is ideal temperature for traveling. Hooray! finally we got out of singapore humid weather!

We took the SQ flight (promotion rate: 664/person) and arrived at Taipei airport. We stayed at Sheraton hotel. As recommended by a Taiwan mum, we took a direct bus(大有巴士） from airport to hotel which cost NT225 (Adult:NT90, child:NT45) for a hour's drive. If you took a taxi, it would be a lot expensive (about NT1200).

Transportation:Just in front of the hotel, there is a mrt station called "善道寺站". There were day tickets which you can took as many rides as you can in a day that costs NT200.
As we brought child along and won't be travel from place to place a lot, we chose a top up cards. It is just like our singapore mrt card which you can enjoy 20% discount. refundable deposit for the card is NT100 which you can get it back when you return the card at the end of the holiday. pls take note that there is NT20 admin charge. Taipei's mrt system is similar to singapore mrt, quite easy to navigate. Whenever you want to go anywhere, just hop on the mrt to the nearest station to the destination. Then take a taxi from there.

Day 1: Babyboss City
It was a rainy day. so we decided to stay indoor "Baby boss".
It is a indoor playground where the kids can experience more than 20 jobs (aircrew, beauty salon, police, fire fighter, taxi driver, newspaper editor, judge, banker, etc...). For each job, the child would be dressed up a uniform. After each job done, the salary would be given. Then the child can save the money in the bank. ATM card will be use to withdraw the money to buy gift or redeem for cooking class (such as making pizza, donut, ice-cream, etc)
It is on 7th floor of the Living Mall (京华城). Mummy can shopping inside the mall where children can play inside the babyboss for whole day! please take note that there must be 1 adult accompany with the child.

Ticket: Child: NT900, Adult: NT500
How to go: take mrt to 忠孝复兴站,take taxi or free shuttle bus (10:30-22:30, every 20-30 min)
website: http://www.babyboss.tw/

where to eat:
lunch: at restaurant inside the babyboss
dinner: 鼎太丰inside the SOGO department store near 忠孝复兴站.

Day 2: National Museum-Science center-Night market
- In the morning, goto National Museum where you can see all the treasures stolen from Forbidden City Beijing.
Ticket: Adult NT160. Student: NT80
How to go: take mrt to "Shi Lin"士林站,take bus red 3 or taxi there.
- National Taiwan Science education center
It covered from 3rd - 7th story. Although it is pretty big in area, personally I still prefer Singapore science center (suppose more interactive).
Just beside science center, there is Astronomical museum.
we didn't have time to visit there
- Shi lin night market for dinner (near Shi lin mrt)
It is famous night market where you can get local food and small shops along the road side.
you can try 蚵仔煎，天妇罗(like fried fish cake)，生煎包,
串烤...

Day 3: 小人国
It is a mini-nature and theme park suitable for younger children. 六福村, which is a bit further away, is the theme park, more suitable for bigger children and adult.
http://www.leofoo.com.tw/village/wannaplay.html

ticket: Promotion price for all ages : NT499
How to go: http://www.woc.com.tw/index_1.asp

Day 4: Shopping
There are a lot of place for shopping. I went to CityHall area, all big building and dept. store. no small shops. the roads are wide. The environment looks like pudong in Shanghai.
-Elite bookstore (good environment)
- Shin-Kong Mitsukoshi dept store.
- Taipei 101 (you can go up to the top of the building to see taipei view), ticket NT400/person. This department store have all the worldwise famous brand, like our takashimaya/paragon.

If you have more days to spend in Taipei, there are other choices, such as:
- Hot spring bath @Bei tou
- Zoo
For more ideas, you can visit the website:
http://www.r-r.com.tw/tale/tale-list.php?id=25

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/taiwan-holiday-child-friendly-free-easy-tour

Also from kiasuparents.com forum

Recommended beach holiday for kids

Phuket, Kai Island

See fishes swimming on the beach and feed them bread. :) Dec is monsoon season for South China Sea so apparently, it's good to go to places like Phuket, Langkawi and Penang instead of Redang and Tioman.

You can't get anymore family friendly than @ Ramada
Resort Karon Beach, Phuket..... unless if one is willing to spend
more money on the higher end resorts lah.

Our kiddies had a blast in our princess themed suites and have
requested to go back again to visit the amazing people at the
Siam Adventure Club there...

Check their website @ http://www.ramadaphuket.com/index.php