A visit to Johor Bahru Zoo

I am ashamed to say that I have been staying near Johor Bahru for nearly ten years but I have never visited any places of interest here.

Previous week, Tian came home from her pre-school and kept on pestering us to bring her to zoo. We wondered how she knew about asking us to bring her to zoo. Peer pressure at 4 years old? What will happen when she is 12 then? We promised to bring her to a zoo but I was thinking that Melaka Zoo would be too far away for a day trip with 2 kids and I remembered my ex-colleague mentioning a 'small' zoo at JB so I surfed net and found the location. A zoo only 20km plus away from my home!

Two Sundays ago, we went to zoo after breakfast and buying a new canvas shoes for Tian so that she could walk comfortably. We reached there around 11:30am and it was scorching hot (I forgot to bring sunblock for the kids, only hats) and it was difficult to find a place to park our car.

We bought tickets (RM2 for adults, RM1 for kids and free entrance for 2 yo and below and there was a compulsory ticket to buy for birds show which was RM1 per person) and the kids had a good time looking at real animals while my hubby and I was sweating all over and still had to chase after them.



There were about 100 species of animals on the 5 hectares land. Although the zoo was small compared to other zoos in Malaysia, one to two hours of strolling and 30 minutes of birds show were long enough for younger children. The compound was well managed and clean.



The area for birds show. The shops sold tit-bits and beverages at reasonable prices.


Hornbill and other birds could be seen near the entrance.

At least there were tigers and lions to see. A zoo would not be like a zoo if there wasn't any king of the beast and king of the jungle, right?

Baby elephants could be observed at close distance as they were chained as we walked pass the enclosure. I hoped that they were not chained all the time.

There were shelters with tap water nearby so it was convenient to let kids (and adults) to take a rest and for mothers to clean them up after feeding them. Tian and Tao had a great time playing in the 'hut'.

Birds show: It was a pity that there were only a few birds performing. Maybe due to smaller zoo management, they were not be able to organize performance on bigger scale.

As we reached home, hubby and I were dizzy due to the heat. I quickly cooked some cooling dessert so that the kids would not get sick. Papaya (not too ripe) and white fungus with dried winter melon, red date and dried longans. Cooling and refreshing!

Second Trip to Desaru Beach

We went to Desaru Beach (again) on the Sunday after Christmas as MIL requested to bring SIL and her sons for the outing. I was quite apprehensive because it would not be easy to take care of 4 kids (some demanding, some whiny, some naughty etc). Another reason that I was quite reluctant to go was that I needed to drive a separate car to fetch SIL and her sons.

As expected, I heard a lot of, 'Are we there yet?' and whining, which did not spoil my mood as much as what happened on the way back.

We reached beach and the weather was awesome. Clear skies and beautiful waves! The kids were having a great time.

We had lots of foods (mostly prepared by MIL) and ice-cream bought from the ice-cream vendor. My girls enjoyed the sands more than the sea though.

On the way back, I was driving ahead of hubby although I was not very familiar with the road but I thought I could follow the road sign like normally when I drive alone. But I left out one factor. Demanding kids! Within 10 minutes after we left a petrol station for a toilet break, I heard a request for toilet again. For goodness sake!! I needed to take note of a correct right turn but the 7 yo requested for a stop at a petrol station which would be on the left side. I told him to wait while I search for petrol station and he started making angry hissing sound and mumbled words under his breath. Obviously, I missed the right turn home and I had no choice but to drive ahead for a petrol station. Luckily for me, the kid went to the toilet and I managed to make a U-turn and proceeded to the correct junction.

I was annoyed (seething with anger, to be exact) and decided to end the day early. I called hubby to go directly to a restaurant for dinner instead of going home, bath kids etc and going out again.

The 7 yo said, 'I want to go home and take bath first' due to he wetted his pants a bit when holding his urine. I told him to bear with it as we were only having a quick dinner and would go home straight away. He began to cry. Luckily, there was a spare shorts otherwise I thought I would be requested to make a turn back home. Phew!

Have you been in similar situation above? You are not the mum but still need to persuade the kid to behave and listen to elders. It would have been a lot easier if it was my kid. A smack would have settled it all.

I could not say my kids were on their best behaviour either. Tian accidentally kicked a whole lump of sand into a container of half eaten 'fried bee hoon'. I was not there to witness this so I could only reprimand her when she told me what happened. If I were there and the adults had warned her not to kick the sands but she still did, she would definitely be smacked.

Christmas Break

We went back to hubby's hometown for a few days as SIL and her sons were back from KL for holidays. My 2 girls were having a great time there due to PIL's house was a corner house with a spacious yard.

Tao was trying to taste an orchid leaf. Yucks!

Creating havoc on grandma' garden. Occasionally, we could hear shouting from their grandma, 'Don't pluck this!', 'Don't touch that!' etc.

We went back to our house before Christmas because I planned to go to Singapore to celebrate Christmas with my ex-colleagues.

In fact, Christmas is also our wedding anniversary but we never seldom have chance to celebrate together. No chance to celebrate with hubby only. But hubby did compensate with a gift which I will write about it when I have a chance.

A mini sized Christmas tree that I put up on 24th night with small gifts and tit bits for the kids.

A very nice chocolate fudge cake bought by my ex-boss for our celebration in one of ex-colleagues house in Singapore.

Short Trip to Desaru Beach

Yesterday, we woke up early and had a lazy morning at home. Hubby and I completed our house chores early and made a last minute decision to go to Desaru Beach which was about 2 hours drive from home.

I quickly packed necessary stuff: spare clothes, towels, food, milk for the kids etc and off we went. We stopped by McDonald's to pack our lunch and ate on our way to save time. Tian slept in the car ( I just love her easy going attitude) but Tao was wide awake all the way although it was supposed to be their napping time.

It was Tao's first trip to the beach. It was a pity it started drizzling within minutes we reached there.

The sky was dark as we reached there and the girls barely touched the sands when it started drizzling. Tian was so reluctant to go to the shelter that I took pity on her and I asked hubby to scoop some sands for the girls to play with.

Tian was contented to play in the shelter.

It was drizzling non-stop until 6:00pm and we decided to leave because it was getting cold. To conclude, our time spent on the journey to and fro the beach was more than the time we spent on the beach. Oh well!

We saw rainbow after the rain.

Hubby consoled me by saying that this trip was just a trial run. We would just plan better next time and choose more suitable season to go to the beach around March or April.