Taiping Zoo visit

Today we finally made up our mind (after talking for so long about this trip) and take a day of family trip driving to ~100km to Taiping Zoo. Actually it is quite easy to reach there. It took roughly around 1 hour drive from Penang. Just take the North-South highway from Penang to Ipoh and exit at Exit 148 Kamunting Taiping exit. From there go straight and pass through 3 traffic lights and you are there. We followed the zoo map that we have gotten during one of the past exhibition of cuti-cuti Malaysia. However, be aware that the map does not follow scale and it is actually another good 12km before you reach the zoo after the highway exit. The map made it looked quite nearby after the exit but that's not the case.
http://www.zootaiping.gov.my/

We wanted to visit this zoo mainly for Ethan's exposure. Also it would serve as a reference for him when we visited other zoos in future oversea.

Entrance fee is RM5 per person, child from 3 to 12 is RM3. Ethan is free because he does not fall in that category. No charge for camera and video cam. Entrance is through bar code scanning of the ticket, quite impressive.

Parking is convenient beside the zoo for RM2 per parking. Since this was a Saturday, there were quite a crowd at the zoo. There is a traincar service that brings one for a guided tour of the zoo if you are up to walking.

Most of the animals are found in this zoo, in fact the zoo compound is quite large.

Animals that could be found in Ethan's book which he learns about animals, like Tiger, Elephant, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Lion, Zebra, Flamingo, monkeys, chimpanzees, etc.

Some photos taken of the occupants at the zoo.

One key point is that the zoo is quite large and it takes a while to walk and go through all the exhibition. In hot weather it would be wise to come prepare with a cap or umbrella.

Overall impression was that it was worth the visit.

Apartment Searching Preview Day 3

Since we have settled our apartment yesterday, day 3 was meant to settle other stuffs like taking the medical examination at the immigration department in the morning. After which we went to Ikea to take a look see of the items sold there. After lunch Annie took us to Yu Garden in Puxi for some sight seeing and familiarization with Shanghai.

After Yu Garden, we went to see some of the cars available for rental and called it a day with Annie. Being adventurous, we took the local taxi and went to Jinqiao CarreFour once more time. Ai Yoong wanted to check out the price of the goods here. Survey of the food in Shanghai, found that it is double the price in Penang. Some are more. The milk that Ethan eats everyday is twice the price that could be purchase here. Like Pedisure 1.8kg which costs RM102 here is sold at 900g at RM106. Even what they claim as local brand like Wyeth is also double in price.

Apartment Searching Preview Day 2

Day 2 of the apartment searching trip. We went to a few apartments in the morning but more or least already made up our mind on Season Villas. Annie took us to view the apartments that are near to Puxi side nearby of Lu Jia Zui which is the financial district of Pudong.

These are all high rise serviced apartment with good view of the Bund.

Skyline Mansion
It is a 205sqm 2 bedroom and 1 study room apartment. The view was perfect. But Ai Yoong had got the strange feeling of height. The facilities here is also best of class. Don't think we would even consider here due to the distance from office and kindergarten. But it's sure nice to have a chance to view such kind of apartment.

Shanghai Garden
This is a townhouse. We viewed one which is a size floor and the other a duplex unit. The duplex one has a small garden out front and the flooring is heated during winter. It is also fully new and not occupied before. Quite a nice place and environment. The clubhouse is across the road to the other side of the compound.

With our mind set, we went to revisit Season Villas for the second time and also took the time to visit the YCIS Kindergarten in the compound. Here we found that there is a lone Sakura tree inside Season Villas itself just in front of their property leasing management office. The management people told us that the tree was bought from Japan for RMB100,000.

I have taken some photo of this tree. Seems that because Shanghai is further north than Tokyo - Sakura is late blooming until now in mid April.

I guessed since we would be staying for the year, Ethan would have a chance to view and experience for himself same time next year.

Apartment Searching Preview Day 1

The local relocation agent, Annie picked us up from the hotel at 9.30am. For the day we went to 9 different communities, starting with Green Court.

Green Court (In front of JinQiao CarreFour)
We viewed 2 types of apartments in Green Court, one is a 200sqm and the other is a 170sqm apartments.

Green Court is just in front of JinQiao Carrefour. It is very convenient in a way that it is walking distance from the shopping mall, and international schools. JinQiao is also a community that foreigner/expats likes to stay at. Mostly because of the international schools available for their children.

However, the community does not have any clubhouse in the vicinity. Landlord will subscribe to a sports centre called Megafit which is a professionally run sports centre with all the facilities. It is just beside CarreFour and to get there one need to cross the road (walk 5 to 6 mins). Pretty inconvenient. Thus, we struck it off our list immediately without giving a second thought.

Green Hill
We proceeded to GreenHill whereby it was not in our list for visit but has been last minute added in. This is a 2 storeys townhouse but the landlord had renovated intensively and added another storey or attic to the building. It is original 170sqm but the renovation made it >200sqm. It had 3 bedrooms, one tatami room on top in the attic and a small garden. Inside the community there is a Montessori Kindergarten. It has a clubhouse with indoor swimming, gym, etc. Ai Yoong quite like this one because of the space and also small garden.

Green Hill is in our list of choice. However, one inconvenience is that it is quite far from my office and also subway. There are no shuttle bus services and also may need an AhYee if really we choose this place to stay.

Shimao Lakeside Garden
Our next stop were one townhouse and 1 apartment on 26 floor at Shimao Lakeside Garden. This community is reputable for the lake landscaping surrounding the building. The first one we went to see was a 290sqm townhouse. Landlord is renting it cheaper because this unit is corner one and near to the road surrounding the lake.

It has a big living room and at the veranda after sliding door is the lake itself. The next one we went was an apartment high up on the 26 floor. Great view of the vicinity though. But Ai Yoong felt dizzy the moment we came out of the lift. I guess we are really not use to staying at high floors apartment no matter how great the view is. :-)

This is a 210sqm apartment with 2 bedrooms and 1 study room. From the living room, there is a balcony that one could get a good view. This is struck out of our list because of the height and also the balcony that could be dangerous to Ethan.

Beverly Hill
This is not the Beverly Hill in US but one in Shanghai. It is a low density community with a small club house. But the landlord is willing to subscribe Megafit for its tenant. It is a 210sqm townhouse.

Quite a good and quiet place. 3 bedrooms with one bedroom furnish with children bed.

Although this one has a nice surrounding but it was not in our choice because of the inconvenience of far away from office and also subway station. The clubhouse is also not matching to Ai Yoong requirement. Thus we moved on the next one.

Season Villas
Much to our disappointment, Season Villas only left with a second floor apartment of 174sqm. There are no townhouse available for rental. This apartment is a 3 bedroom apartment with a study room. It is a serviced apartment whereby management run and will provide house keeping services 3 times a week. There is a clubhouse with facilities like indoor/outdoor swimming pool, gym, children playground(indoor/outdoor), etc. Shuttle bus transport to nearby places like JinQiao CarreFour, ThumbPlaza CarreFour, Century Park subway station, etc daily including weekends. There is also the Yew Chung (YCIS) Kindergarten inside the community. It would perhaps be a good choice for Ethan's schooling.

Season Villas is a low density communities with villas and townhouses surrounding the clubhouse in the middle. There are 11 blocks of low storeys 6~7 floors apartment at the back portion of the community.
http://www.seasonsvillas.com.cn/

Below is the view from the front lobby entrance leading to the lift. Since the apartment we saw is on the second floor, there is a balcony space out of the apartment's front door that could get a good view of the lobby down at ground floor.

One good thing about this community is the landscaping and green space. It gives one a fresh feeling and you could just take a scroll along the compound for exercise. Some photos I have taken of the garden we have passed by right between the clubhouse and the apartments.

This is the internal photo of the apartment.

Above showing the photo of the living room and also the master bedroom's bathroom

The study room and also kitchen

Master bedroom

Second and third room

Golden Vienna

This is a community that is designed like European style. Even the decoration inside the duplex house we visited gave a sense of European look with curtains, etc. It is a 220sqm size with lots of staircases. Also has a basement which gives you an eerie feeling. The study room is in the basement without without - surrounded by 4 sides brick walls. There is a pond right out of the basement - would be hard to maintain.

Pinnacle Century Park
Last property of the day we visited was Pinnable Century Park. This is a high stories serviced apartment. Size of 150sqm, it is a nicely furnished apartment. Lots of sign boards in Japanese gives you the feeling that it should be a high occupancy rate of Japanese. It is also very close to a Japanese International School. It has shuttle bus and near to the subway. There is a kindergarten inside. Unfortunately there is no pool and facilities are not opened. Only has a small gym. According to Annie, this is still quite new.
http://www.pinnaclechina.com.cn/

It is a serviced apartment quite similar to Season Villas, however what we don't like is that it is very high floor.

Summary of the Day
Of all the properties that we have visited today, we have only pin-point 2 that would be suitable to be in the list to consider. They are Green Hill and Season Villas. Tomorrow, there will be some more apartments to see. What a tiring day we had.