Origami is not a paper art..

I am not referring to this art of paper folding thingy.

But I am looking at this damn bloody cool stroller!!

Have a look at this video and then try and tell me otherwise!

 

It is the world's very first power-folding stroller, complete with LCD, daytime running lights, and onboard generator. 

Press a button to watch it open and close by itself.

And wait till you see that it has an iPhone charger on the handle too!!

Superrrrr convenient for mommy (and daddy too of course!)

And where can you find strollers with such headlights??

Well, not that we will be strolling in the dark, but fabulous to know that it's auto censor enables when in low light ambiance.

Nadz, you are solely to be blamed for this.

If you haven't told me, it would have never triggered back my obsession towards strollers!

Now, I can't get it out of my head!

Arrrkkkkk!!!! 

Anyone going to United Stated that can bring back this baby for moi?

(pics googled from the net, clip from youtube)

Stokke Xplory

What the hell is that?
Well my friend, if you don't have kids, then you may not know about this.
But if you do have kids but not that crazy about strollers, then, you too may not know about this either.
Never fear, coz I am here, to educate you!
Stokke Xplory is one of the most innovative stroller ever designed by mankind!
Yes! It's a stroller!
As seen used by Heidi Klum, Minnie Driver and Tory Spelling (pictures found in babychic101)

 

About two years ago, only one boutique in Malaysia that was selling Stokke, which was the Bebehaus at 1utama, and they don't have many in stocks, so if you wanted to buy one, you had to pay deposit and wait for it to arrive.  But today, Mothercare and Planet Enfantes/ Mamours also selling Stokke Xplory, which makes it easier for you to purchase it.

At that time, I was very impatient and was badly infected by the pramaholic disease, whereby I just had to have this Xplory by hook or by crook and thank god, Nad was there to help me get it, all the way from UK.

So what is it about this that makes it very popular (and expensive too) ?
Is it the high-chair-look-a-like features?
Is it the elevated functions?
Is it the ergonomic handle design?
Is it the funky bright colour options?

To prove how obsessed I was with the stroller, I have personally made a review of it, yes, all by myself.
Please head on to Strollers and Prams for the in depth analysis!
You will be surprised!

Sharing our Hong Kong vacation - Day 2

Continuation of our HK trip..

Up next, the second day..

Oh, let me remind you the main transportation here is using the train and walking, walking, walking.. which I believe I have lost 4 inches of fat around my thighs due to the vast walking!
From the hotel, 15 minutes walk to the train.. walking up and down the stairs, buildings, pavements..
And let me stress the point that HK is NOT, and I repeat, NOT disable friendly!!
I have not seen a single person on wheelchair going about in HK!
There's practically no ramp at all!!
Purely crazy sense of manoeuvring the strollers!
But, hooraaayy for the lightweight ILY MAC, of course!!
And let me tell ya, some of the escalators at the train stations and malls are so narrow that I can't put my Skiphop Saddlebag at the sides of the stroller! And the ILY MAC just fits slightly to be wheeled up and down the escalators, and in between the train ticket checkout counters!

Opss.. Sorry for the emotional vent..
Ok, back to the 2nd day story..
We started the day by going to Hong Kong Peak!
No, not walking all the way to the peak of the hill top, but, almost lost a leg walking up to the tram station! Serious work out I'm telling ya!

Here's me, looking for directions to the Peak Tram station with baby sleeping in the Ergo Carrier..

Here's one of the HK major landmark, the Bank Of China building.  It's huge and tall, and unique architectural design, located pass this beautiful Charter Garden, where we stopped for a little biscuit munching moment .

Here's the tram at the Peak Tram Terminal station heading up to Victoria's Peak.

 

 

 View from inside the tram.

 Here's us on the Sky Tarrace on the Hong Kong Victoria Peak!

The weather was perfect, bright and sunny, hence we got the perfect view overlooking the whole Hong Kong!

The rest of the day, we spent by taking the trains to several stops around HK to visit the shopping places, malls, stores, and more shopping areas..
Oh, have I mentioned that there's nothing much you can do in HK except for shopping? hahaha
Here's me and Arif after dinner and still walking around in shopping malls..

Arif's hanging strong in there! Good boy!

Hold on for Day 3, up next!

Sharing our Hong Kong vacation - Day 1

I love reading blogs of other's vacations, and my favourites are larkie's and ladyverde's.
I don't get the chance to travel as much as they do, so just for the fun of it, I hope you don't mind me sharing my family trip to Hong Kong last year.. hope u'll enjoy it!
(Similar to my own thread posted at strollersandprams last May 2009)

First up, here's us at the KLIA airport, ready to board the aeroplane MAS Airbus 330 on Sunday 17th May 2009.. 9am..

Ready for take off..

 Baby comfortably sleeping in the cot an hour after take off..

 

 

The flight took about 3½ hours.. and here's us at the Hong Kong International Airport, the Chek Lap Kok Airport, waiting for our tour guide to pick us and drive us to the hotel.

We stayed at the Dorsett Far East Hotel, a walking distance to the Tsuen Wan MTR station, which is like the last pit-stop of the train link.  Although it is small and a 3-star hotel, it is indeed very clean and well, it's enough for our 4 days and 3 nights stay.

 

 

 After checked in, we rushed to the Water Front at Harbour City to wait for the light show that's up every night at 8pm..

Oh I forgot to mention earlier that the 4 of us (me, hubby, 2kids) went to Hong Kong with my parents and my sister.. and the stroller of choice was the Maclaren Limited Edition Lulu Guinness I Love You, in short, it is also known as the ILY Mac.

The light show participated by almost all the major huge buildings facing the water front.. so u could see the light show all along the harbour area, not just specifically at one point..

We spent the rest of the night walking around the shops located near the hotel.. just scouting the parameters in other words!

Coming soon, Day 2!

Combi Super Mechacal DX

Presenting our very first and most loved stroller ever!

This was the limited edition model and honestly, at this time neither me nor hubby were stroller savvy.  We didn't have any knowledge regarding strollers but the only thing that I clearly recall was that I wanted a stroller that can reverse seat in order to see my baby at all times.. And we also needed a small and slim when folded stroller because at that time Kelisa was our car (slightly bigger in size comparison with the Mr. Bean Mini Cooper).  It was indeed difficult in locating that kind of stroller because usually reverse seat strollers are mostly bulky in size.

It was December 2004 (yeah, way years ago, so forgive me for blogging backwards! bwahahha) and we noticed that almost everywhere, we saw Combi stroller brand.  So we head on to this store called Toy City, located in 1utama shopping complex.  No wonder we saw plenty of Combi strollers here because this store is actually one of the Combi distributors in Malaysia.
I told the store assistant what features that I was looking for and he pointed me to this one stroller up high on the shelf.  They put it there because it was a limited edition and the one and only unit brought into the store!
So, yeah, that's the story!.
Our 1st stroller was purchased at RM1299. 

In case you're wondering, here were the specifications of the stroller

• Made of lightweight frame and is about 6kg plus.
• Seat can be reverse and front forward
• 3 reclining position.
• Extendible leg support.
• Large canopy providing full coverage on the stroller, with 2 peek-a-boo window.
• Removable bumper bar
• Removable underseat basket
• Lockable swivel front wheels with soft suspension
• Individual breaks on back wheels
• Mesh fabric for cooling ventilation
• 3-point harness from the waist level 
• Carry strap to sling over shoulder when hand-carry during travelling 

What I love about this stroller?

• Easy to change the seat to rear and front facing by just a flick reverse of the handle! 
• Thick and comfy padded seat
• High seat backrest and extendible leg rest to lengthen the seat
• Fold flat and slim
• Super large hood, excellent to cover my baby from those paparazzi taking pictures.. bwahahhaa.. check out the canopy coverage picture below.. uber cozy!!
  

What I have wished this stroller would have?

• Larger and easier to access underseat storage basket.. take my word for it, this stroller's basket was just pure nuisance to put stuffs in and get it out! It's what I hated most regarding this stroller.
• Harness strap from the shoulder level! I wasn't aware of the severity and importance of harness' features, until I discovered it in the S&P forum.  I thought all strollers have this type of harness, oh I was sooo wrong!  Strollers manufactured in United States and Europe all implementing either 5-point harness or 3-point harness from behind the shoulder strap, and it has now become international safety standard requirements for strollers.. and yes, Combi has improved all their strollers since year 2006.

Indeed this stroller has served us well through out our years bringing up Amin.  We even travelled to Gold Coast Australia with this Combi.  If only this stroller came with secured harness and better underseat basket, I certainly would have rated it as the best in the market and kept it till this very day. 
Hmm.. on second thought, actually, thanks to all these flaws, that I got curious in learning about other types and designs and brands of strollers and thus began my journey in becoming a stroller-addict! bwahahahaha

I was a pramaholic..

Yup.. Stroller, pram, buggy, pushchair or whatever you may call this mechanism to transport your precious cargo in.. Cargo here means none other than your cutie-pie child, of course!

But then again, it sparked off after I discovered the Strollers And Prams forum!
Hubby and I bought the Combi Super Mechacal DX as our very first stroller.  We never studied anything about strollers at that time. The only thing that matters was that it has to be a Combi because we trusted in Japanese product being long lasting and assuming that it's the most advanced in technology like whatever electrical/ mechanical stuffs made in Japan itself.

Ok, hold on to your horses..
I'm gonna make a new post dedicated especially to this stroller.. yes, yes, I will search for the pictures of it too!
Stay tuned!