28 May 2018 - Thanatophobia (Fear of Death)

Has any parent ever experienced a phase where your child suddenly talks to you about death and then starts to breakdown?  Sad to say, it recently happened to Javier.  When he came home from student care centre this evening, he came and told me that he cried in the centre earlier in the day because he was scared of death.  Somehow the thought of death floated into his mind.  He started asking about what will happen when a person dies?  Is there really spirit?  Is Heaven and God real?  Why can't we live forever?  Why life is so short?  What is the purpose of life?  And the questions go on and on.......

There is a term for such fear and it's called Thanatophobia.  According to some website articles, such fear is common for children, especially boy between ages 4 to 8.  I started reading about how to tackle such situation and how best I can help Javier to overcome this fear.

It is really quite challenging, especially when he starts to relate his "scientific" knowledge into the conversation.  All this while, I do share with Jerlene and Javier a lot of general knowledge.  I had mentioned once that the Earth will one day be "eaten up" by our Sun.  Javier has a very good memory and remembers all that I had said.  So he started asking what will happen to human being when Sun "eats up" the Earth......

I'm not sure where he learns about reincarnation and he started asking me about it.  I tell him frankly that it's a belief and no one can prove whether it's real or not.  But I told him that if it'll help him get over the fear by believing that a person will reborn after death, then he should probably think that it's true.  It seems like that helps him a bit and at least he now feels that death may not be the end of everything.  Then came the question, why a person cannot remember anything after reborn.......?

I will monitor his condition for a while before deciding whether he requires professional's help.

27 May 2018 - Relaxing at Austin Heights Resort Jacuzzi

As it was still early when we were back at the hotel, we decided to have some relaxation time at the Jacuzzi, which is free for hotel guests.  As the Jacuzzi pools are separated between male and female, Javier and me went together while Jerlene and mommy went on their own.  It was really relaxing and so comfortable in the warm water.

Based on Jerlene's description of the female Jacuzzi pool, it seems like theirs are much bigger.

This marked the end of our 3 days short trip to JB and we will be checking out tomorrow.  Though this trip was short, it was definitely a fun one.

27 May 2018 - Dinner at Jeju Korea BBQ Restaurant

After a tiring but enjoyable day at Austin Heights Water Park, we decided to have our dinner around the nearby area.  There are lots of restaurants, cafes and food outlets along the whole stretch of shop houses.  We were really spoiled for choices and didn't know what to eat.  In the end, we chose Korean BBQ and went into a restaurant named Jeju.

We ordered pork and chicken sets plus few other dishes.  We did not have to do the "BBQing" ourselves as the waiters were there to help.

We were all very full but that did not stop us from having ice cream after the meal.  By the way, the ice cream is free for every diner.

27 May 2018 - Austin Heights Water Park

Our plan for today was to spend an enjoyable day in Austin Heights Water Park, the highlight of our trip.  The entrance fee was actually not as cheap as we had expected.  Fortunately there was a parent's day online promotion during this period and the admission fee for family of four was reduced from RM332 to RM238.

As usual, the lazy river is one of our favourite in any water park and that's the first station we went to.

One good thing about this water park is that we do not have to queue for any ride!  The entire park was quite empty and we can just go for the ride one after another.

This is the only water park where we managed to try out every single slide.  We had great fun with all the exciting slides until Javier had a minor accident when he fell out of his float and hurt his shoulder.

We took a rest and had our lunch at the cafe in the park.

After lunch, we went back to the lazy river to allow our food to digest a bit before going for more rounds of thrilling slides.  We ended our fun day at the waves pool.

Though the rides at Sentosa Adventure Cove are better, the queue there is horrible as one may need to queue up to 30mins to an hour for a "less than a minute" slide.  Really not worth the time spent queuing.  That's the reason why when we were there, we mainly just go for its Lazy River, Waves Pool and Water Maze.  So for anyone who loves water park but not the queuing part, Austin Heights Water Park is definitely recommended.

We stayed there till the park closed at about 7pm.  Before leaving the place, Jerlene and Javier had a round of Austin Drifts Cart.

26 May 2018 - Dinner at AEON Mall Bandar Dato' Onn

After exhausting our brain power in "LOST in JB", we went back to Austin Heights Jump Street for another hour of extreme exercise.  We then drove to another nearby mall, AEON Mall Bandar Dato' Onn, for dinner.  This mall is pretty new and opened less than a year ago on 7 Sep 2017.  For those bear lovers, you will find many photo spots all around the mall.

We spent about 15 mins walking around to look for a restaurant for dinner and in the end, we decided on a Hong Kong style Chinese restaurant, Zhou Xing Xing (周星星).  It did not disappoint us as the food here was really good!

There is a Bear Garden right at the entrance of the mall which makes it a very nice and romantic photo spot.  :-)

26 May 2018 - LOST in JB (Escape Room Game)

After lunch, we decided to go for something not too physical but fun.  On Google map, we found a nearby spot named "LOST in JB".  We checked it out and realized that it's the type of "Escape the Room" Game.  When Jerlene and Javier saw the different room themes, they were a bit hesitated because most of them look scary.  Fortunately, one of the available room at that time was Doraemon.

Here's how the story goes...
"The romantic season of Spring, the season of cherry blossoms. Today Nobita mustered up his courage, preparing a bouquet of cherry blossoms to his crush Shizuka. In a moment of confusion, he accidentally handed the flowers to the hands of Gian/Takeshi’s sister - Jyaiko.
In shock, Nobita ran to Doraemon to ask for help. Doraemon searched his pocket of magical treasures, taking out a range of miraculous tools to aid Nobita.
Even with Doraemon’s magical tools, Nobita will still need to use his confidence and bravery to overcome this challenge. Will Nobita be able to use the power of love to regain the bouquet, and place it into the hands of Shizuka?"

We were given 60mins to escape the room and we only took about 48mins.  It was great fun as everyone contributed to the different puzzles throughout the game.  Thumbs up!

26 May 2018 - Jump Street and Drift Cart at Austin Heights

Austin Heights Water and Adventure Park is just a 5mins drive from the resort.

We had reserved the Water Park for tomorrow.  Today, we decided to take on the Jump Street and the Drift Cart.  We bought the combo tickets for two at RM88 which includes an hour of Jump Street (with socks) and a 10mins of Drift Cart.

Jump Street is an indoor trampoline park which consists of Main Court, Dodge Ball Court, Slam Dunk, High Performance Area, Foam Pit and Air Bag.  So off they went.....

After the trampoline session, Jerlene and Javier still did not have enough.  So we bought another set of combo tickets which means we now have 4 Drift Cart tickets in which we all got to try it out.

Drift Kart is an indoor drift system purposely built to create the maximum edgy drift thrill for the drift enthusiasts.  It's similar but not exactly like the normal Go-Kart.

Let's see how Jerlene "drifts" in the following video.

Jerlene and Javier still had another hour of Jump Street session but we decided to come back later.  We drove to a nearby Old Town restaurant for our lunch.

26 May 2018 - Exploring Austin Heights Golf Resort Facilities

We woke up this morning with a nice view of the surrounding golf course.

Our family suite room came with breakfast for four at the resort's sunrise cafe.

After breakfast, we decided to explore the resort's facilities before heading out.

Some of the facilities such as Jacuzzi and Gym are free of charge for all hotel guests. 

However, others such as American Pool, Bowling, Theater, Table Tennis etc are chargeable.

Our plan for today was to have some fun at the nearby Sports and Leisure Park.  So off we go......

25 May 2018 - Dinner at AEON Tebrau City (Arashi Shabu Shabu)

One of the nearest shopping mall from Austin Heights Golf Resort is AEON Tebrau City, which is a short 10mins drive away.  The last time we came to this mall was few years back and it seems to have changed quite a bit. 

There is a Japanese Village where all around us are Japanese decorations, food outlets and restaurants.

As it's dinner time, Jerlene and Javier decided to try out Arashi Shabu Shabu.

We ordered a Seafood & NZ Beef Combo Set for 2 pax, each with our own pick of broth, a Chicken Teppanyaki Set, a large plate of Pork Cheek, a Strawberry Blended and a Arashi Purple Emotion Juices. 

The food was very tasty and the price was pretty reasonable.  For all the above, we paid MYR174 in total.

After dinner, we walked around the mall to see if there is any good bargain.  Before driving back to the resort, we bought some tit bits and drinks from AEON supermarket.

25 May 2018 - Austin Heights Golf & Hotel Resort

After attending the school's Annual Speech and Prize Giving Ceremony, we embarked on a three days short trip to Austin Heights, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.  We reached the Woodlands Immigrant Checkpoint at about 3:30pm and the traffic was quite heavy.  By the time we reached the resort, it was about 5pm.

The resort is located on a small hill and it will be a long walk from the main road if one does not drive.

One good thing about this resort is its spaciousness, especially the room.  We booked a family suite and see how big the room is!  Even with the two king-sized beds, there is still lots of space in the room.

The washroom comes with a bathtub, a separate shower area and a toilet cubicle.

It's also pretty economical and we paid MYR280 per night.