Visit to the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum

The children are very obsessed with Dinosaurs, so we decided to bring them to the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. This is not my first time time (you can read my first impression here) and I have to say that when we age, we really find our old selves rather cringe-worthy. Guess I matured and even became a mother. 

To be frank, I actually found it pretty interesting this time round. I couldn't finish everything but even if I did, I probably wouldn't retain. The dinosaurs bones are actually real (not relics) and were purchased by the generous billionaires of Singapore and donated to the museum. There were also a lot of interesting bones like the narwhale horns and other insects that were on display. <3

The older toddler was more interested in the museum and asked lots of questions as the adults narrated the content to him. My younger toddler was just running around and absorbing images (I hope). It is not a very big museum, but it is really informative, very well organised and pretty in pictures. The retail shop was rather messy, but we ended up buying a cute card to remember our visit here. 

It is now free for NUS students and on your birthday month. It doesn't really refresh its content much so it is not a place I would visit very frequently (maybe once a decade?) Also, it is quite inconveniently located (at NUS) and not near to any train stations. To make it a viable museum for locals, it would probably need more targeted events. One thing for sure, the foreigners love it from the reviews. Would recommend for at least one visit. 

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Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum: https://www.klook.com/en-SG/activity/1680-lee-kong-chian-natural-history-museum-singapore/

** Use the discount code "BABYNFAMKLOOK" when you book through Klook for a 5% Discount. Applicable to All Klook Activities with min. spend of SGD50. Discount capped at SGD15.

Tastes of the Australian Outback: How can Australia be so yummy!

They always say food taste better when shared. So we decided to bring the taste of Australia to the men at home. So Edge launched its "Tastes of the Australian Outback’ Dinner Buffet Experience" as at 14 October until 9 November 2025. Apart from the usual delight, they got to enjoy Tasmanian Oysters, Poached Rainbow Strout and also the Giant Australian Queensland Group, steamed Teochew-style. 

If you love your meats, the carving station included a slow-roasted Angus Beef, slow-roasted Kangaroo Leg marinated in Taylor Port Wine (like what!) and Australian Duck Bourguignon with Nashi Pear. The first thing we had to know after they enjoy their spread was how does a kangaroo leg taste, "delicious" apparently!

At the charcoal Barbecue Grill, you will find aromatic Grilled Olive-marinated Spatchcock with roasted parsnips and pacific mussels in Chardonnay Sauce. It was an excellent place to catch-up with old friends or gather with loved ones over endless feasting and drinks to pair. The men had a roaring good time and learnt a lot more about the parts of the cow. 

Tastes of the Australian Outback is only available during dinner (from 6pm to 10pm) It is priced a little cheaper than the usual buffet price: 

• $120++ per adult | Inclusive of free flow of soft drinks
• $60++ per child (6 to 12 years old) | Inclusive of free flow of soft drinks

So if you haven't given Edge a try before, this is the time to try!

** To get additional discounts, you can use the discount code "BABYNFAMKLOOK" when you book through Klook for a 5% Discount. Applicable to All Klook Activities with min. spend of SGD50. Discount capped at SGD15.

Best Food of Sa Pa

 During my trip at Sa Pa, I had some of the best food. To be frank, I really enjoyed all my meals there. 

O Quy Ho Restaurant, Sapa

The Hmong Black Chicken Pumpkin Soup was a must-try. In most reviews, people enjoy it. I absolutely love it. To be honest, I don't really remember what the names of the other dishes are. But show these photos to the staff. The food were all good, but the steamed and fried bamboo rice were not really our thing. We prefer our sticky rice better. The vegetables were divine (caveat: I love vegetables). It was a close second after the soup and it is something I can't find at home. I would really come back for the soup if I could :'( 

Món Ngon Tây Bắc

Took me a while before I found what this place was called as it was a recommendation from our driver. We love this restaurant so much we came back twice. The first time we had the sturgeon steamboat because it was rainy and cold. I love their pork and banana blossom salad (not for all). We had a portion of the Ca-Nach pork here and it was delicious. you have to book in advance for some of the whole banquet (which we probably can't finish). 

Best of all, this place came with a flute player who serenaded us with pop songs throughout. <3 So much love for him, we tipped him heavily. Also the waiters here could speak both English and Mandarin which made ordering a lot easier. 

Chusu Kitchen

If you would like to try Sa pa's fine dining, you got to check this place out. We chance upon this restaurant and the food was so good. I think it is fusion but the taste is something we don't really find on the streets and back at home. I wouldn't deem this to be cheap (nearly SG restaurant prices, but not fine-dining price), but it was definitely worth the money. I can't wait to be back with my husband so I can show this off to him :P

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Cafe Spots

Viettrekking Cafe

This is quite a tourist-known place and it has great view. The drinks are really good too and it serves decent food upstairs. I would have hung out here everyday cos it is so near our hotel. You can just sit at their al-fresco seating and watch the funicular railway go up and down. 

De Mong

Sa Pa has quite a bit of nice cafes - cheap with awesome view. The only problem is that there is just that much coffee I can drink a day without getting insomnia at night. Sa Pa is a great place to take a more relaxing pace and just do some cafe-hopping. Apart from De Mong, there are many similar cafes with breathtaking views or themed photo-areas. The only problem is that it is crowded by domestic tourists, dressing in a specific style, taking countless photos. 

** Travel Hacks: Use the discount code "BABYNFAMKLOOK" when you book through Klook for a 5% Discount. Applicable to All Klook Activities with min. spend of SGD50. Discount capped at SGD15.

Wan To Play Tropical Drift

We have been to quite a number of Wan to Play outlets and given how great some of them had been, the Tropical Drift was quite a bit of a disappointment. Tropical Drift was supposed to be the latest edition. But when we were there, some of the games were damaged. And a good deal of the facilities were suffering from wear and tear. 

The more unique experiences here were the "X-Ray" station, the jail, the floor is lava (damaged at the time we were there) and also mechanic experience. There were also some stations (bumper cars, racing etc.) that you needed to pay extra for. To be frank, I think those should have been provided complimentary, otherwise this outlet was nothing special. 

The ceiling for this outlet was also a little on the low side. All the parents had to do a gorilla crawl to chase after their kids and I saw a kid ran, bumped her head and flown to the ground. The slides were also pretty normal. Grouses aside, the kids had lotsa fun as usual. They enjoyed the usual role-play, fish-catching and grocery run. Trampoline was not really is their element that day.

By 1 hour mark, they were pretty much done.  This outlet didn't have a retail portion so remember to bring your own socks! We made a special trip there, but there were nothing much worth exploring within the mall. There is a lot more to see/eat at Causeway Mall. But I doubt we are going there again in the near future. 

3D2N Tour at Sa Pa

Finally, I made a trip out with my friends (without the kids) and it was so fun and relaxing, just to basically follow the crowd. 

Transportation to/ from Sa Pa: Night Sleeper Bus (~S$20 per trip)

This was very exciting for me because I have never taken anything like this before. There are a few operators and we went with HK Buslines. The cabin was really clean and decently furnished with blankets, pillows, charging pods, massager and TV. I recommend them highly because I left my phone on my ride back and the team managed to retrieve my belongings within 4 hours. 

Ideally, this can help save a hotel night stay (which is not very expensive to begin with). But, if you are a light sleeper, this would be terrible for you. When you reach Sa Pa, it would be in the wee mornings and you have to stay sharp the entire day. They don't really wake you up at your stop, so you would need to set your own alarm. There were toilet breaks but I slept soundly through them. Hehe. 

Where to stay: Pistachio Hotel Sa Pa (~S$25 per pax after dividing by 4)

This is not the fanciest hotel in town, but is definitely clean and luxurious enough for me. Also, breakfast is complimentary. It is well located at the city center and we could walk up and there for our daily needs/ exploration/ meals. It has an infinity pool and you can catch this breathtaking view when the clouds clear. There is also a gym and massage services in-house. It is much cheaper at the streets (but gosh the hygiene is questionable). 

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Day 1

Sa Pa Market

Day 1 started really early, way before the dawn crack. The first place we explored was the old town, along with the Sa Pa Market (which I insisted on going, thinking it was a supermarket). You can do a bit of shopping there, but the stuff sold was not what we were interested. You could find the must-tries there. Due to sanitary reason, we ended up only trying the Chestnut cake (banh hat de). It was not as sweet as we expected. I really love it but I find it difficult to bring home. My friends found it "ok". 

We also bought their chilli (without trying) as a local strongly recommended as their staple. Now that I am back home and have tried it, I have to admit it is not really my thing. Too sour. If you are intending to buy tea, this might be a good place. Around the area, there is quite a bit of cafe, we just hopped in to the fanciest one for a nice cup of drip coffee. 

Glass Bridge (~$25)

Our driver bought the tickets for us. But I felt if I had bought it at Klook ourselves, we would have gotten a better deal. Personally, I don't find this a must-go. We only came here because Day 1 was rainy and cloudy. Going to Fansipan was not advisable. The view was fantastic (but similar to Fansipan) and very different because of the mist. I couldn't see much beyond. It was like living in heaven. 

For the adventurous, there were zip-lining, cycling on a zipline and crossing through a zipline and bridge crossing between mountain peaks. It is not very expensive, but I wouldn't think it is a experience only unique to Glass Bridge. If you like cheap, realistic counterfeits apparels, the retail is not to be missed. 

The driver bought us to other places as well, but we were unimpressed and decided to have an early night instead. 

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Day 2

Fansipan

Day 2 was nice and sunny and we decided to scale up Fansipan. Fansipan is actually a 2D1N hiking route, but we decided to go against it because we are not that fit. And being spoilt ladies, my friends and I probably wouldn't survive the outdoor dirty toilet. The whole Fansipan has been tailored for tourists. There was a lot of photo spots and the monorail was really cute too. 

For people who are not as fit, you can also purchase the monorail + cable car tickets but climb mid-way. Also, be reminded to dress appropriately! It was pretty cold at the top, especially when the wind blows and I ended up wearing a winter jacket and tights within. 

Fansipan is just here to catch all the tourist money. At the mid-point, there is also a cultural village with some cultural folk show. But we stayed focus. For me, I am just impressed with the height and how crazy people are to build a buddha and a mountain top. Just going up to pray (when the cable cars were not built) is just insane! The photos that I post are just a fraction of what I saw.

For me, Fansipan really lives up to its name as the must-visit of Sa Pa. Some of my own friends have hiked up. I think the view as you scale is not that impressive. There is also biking options. If you are a city dweller, just climbing up would exhaust you and you might not be able to fully enjoy the view or the little details of their structure. So, I am glad I picked the easy way up. 

Cat Cat Village

This is a favourite for me. It is basically dressing up as a tribal princess and living to my "Xiang-Fei in Huan Zhu Ge Ge" dreams. I didn't get the deal from Klook, just trying to make our guys' life easier. We just walked in and negotiated a deal for a pretty dress/ head gear and basically just went around taking lotsa photos. Our male friend was literally our photographer throughout. It is probably a guy's nightmare, though the whole place was really pretty in a curated way. 

I paid a bit extra (US$5) to get a photo with the horse. You could also pay around US$2 to do a bow-and-arrow on the horse pose. No regrets on it for me, because I doubt I will ever have a chance to do it next time. And beauty fades...not sure if I will even look as good in the future. We stayed so late, we literally had to take their paid service out (~US$0.50) 

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Day 3

Alpine Ride

Day 3 was pretty free and easy with a lot of cafe hopping (read all about the food we ate here!). This was a thrill ride we decided to throw in. This was not in our must-go list, but I absolutely love it. I went on it twice. And the second time (at half price) in the poring rain. I would suggest going through it at the fastest possible speed. Just tell the staff, so that they will make sure there is no one infront of you to block you. Not much scenery to see, cos beside it is just construction works. But the thrill is there. One of my friend freaked out. Well, I guess it is not for all :P Locals can enjoy a free ride!

Red Dao Experience

I did a massage and red dao bath at a random street massage. And kinda of regretted it because of sanitary reason. There was a pungent smell on its massage bed. The lady boss kinda barged into my bath when I was stark naked. (Thank god as a Mum, I have no body shame now. In the past I might have cried.) So here's one experience I found on Klook which I think I would have thoroughly enjoyed and so would you if you are into herbs and having a local guide. :) In any case, I think the red dao shouldn't be missed. We thought it was an experience that could be easily found on the streets of Sa Pa. But apparently not, I wanted a Red Dao Soap as souvenir, but couldn't find any in Sa Pa City. And then it can sleeper night bus back to Vietnam :)

** Use the discount code "BABYNFAMKLOOK" when you book through Klook for a 5% Discount. Applicable to All Klook Activities with min. spend of SGD50. Discount capped at SGD15.