Last Saturday (Aug 21), Yvonne Lim, 44, posted a vid of her bestie Hong Huifang, 60, doing NDP 2021’s ‘Dance of the Nation’ at a restaurant overlooking the instantly recognisable Marina Bay Sands skyline — with a little surprise in store.

A few seconds later, Huifang was joined by Yvonne’s four-year-old daughter Alexa, followed by her six-year-old son AJ, and then Yvonne herself and her husband, former B.A.D member-turned-businessman Alex Tien, 41.

Yup, the entire family, who is based in Taiwan, is now back in Singapore and will be here for about a month.

She made the decision to come back as soon as she read the news that travellers from Taiwan would not need to serve a stay-home notice (SHN) from August 7 if they test negative for COVID-19 upon arrival.

“There was one period earlier on when we wouldn’t need to quarantine as well so I was planning to come back then, but Alex was concerned about me being on the plane and all, so I postponed that trip,” she shared.

However, the two-week quarantine requirement was put in place again when Taiwan started experiencing a surge in infections.

“I was so upset! I told Alex, ‘You see? ‘Cos of the delay I can’t go home already!’” she chuckled. “So when they announced that there would be no more SHN, I didn’t wanna have any more reservations.”

While Yvonne was initially supposed to come back by herself, her children missed Singapore so much that they asked if they could tag along. (Aha! Looks like her scheme worked beautifully.)

She said yes… but only if they agreed to several conditions, such as wearing their full protective gear throughout the entire flight (which can be seen in her video and the screenshot above); not eating, drinking, or going to the bathroom on the plane; and taking the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test without a fuss.

Yvonne was happy to report that both AJ and Alexa were extremely obedient and cooperative the whole time. “They were very determined to come back with me so they were on their best behaviour,” she beamed.

8 DAYS: Welcome back to Singapore, Yvonne! What are some of your plans while you’re in town?

YVONNE LIM: We’re taking it easy and don’t have an itinerary, unlike last time when we would have a full schedule going to Universal Studios, the Zoo and all that. Alexa was asking me to sign her up for ballet classes, so I did that, and AJ is continuing with his violin lessons. I also signed them up for skateboarding lessons. (Laughs)

My kids have been in “lockdown” since May when the outbreak worsened in Taiwan — the only time they stepped out of the house was when we came back to Singapore — so they’re very happy to be out and I wanted to sign them up for more activities and interesting classes.

You previously told us that AJ is supposed to start Primary 1 in Taiwan in end-August, so what’s the arrangement since he’s back in Singapore with you?

We had to apply for a leave of absence from the school. He was supposed to start Primary 1 very soon, but by the time we go back and finish serving quarantine, he’ll have missed about a month or so of school. Hopefully, he’ll be able to adjust ‘cos it’s gonna be a new environment for him.

And you’re okay with him missing a month of school?

I think right now, coming back home is more important. (Laughs) And the school allowed it! I called his teachers and explained that Singapore is opening up and I plan to go back, and they were very nice about it.

Everyone was telling me to make sure he doesn’t miss any classes in primary school, but never mind lah, we never know what’s gonna happen so I’m just going with what feels right, and being home feels right to me at this moment.

I did prepare exercise books for him, but we’ve been so busy he’s hardly finished one page. (Laughs) I don’t wanna stress my kids too much about school, and the good thing about AJ is that he loves to study and learn, so I think he’ll be okay with missing a month.

You came back to get vaccinated. When’s your first jab?

I actually had it the day after I touched down, but I didn’t post anything on Instagram. (Laughs) I might only post about it when I’m fully vaccinated.

There was a chance of getting vaccinated in Taiwan but I was very determined to come back to Singapore to do it. I think it’s a camaraderie sort of thing ‘cos I saw all my colleagues like my manager and Ah Jie ( Zoe Tay) posting pictures of them getting the jab and I just wanted to feel like I was a part of them? (Guffaws)

You’ve always been very vocal about wanting to move your entire family to Singapore. Are there any updates on that?

That has definitely been on my agenda for a long, long time, but ‘cos of the pandemic, everything has to be postponed so we can’t even know when that will happen. ‘Cos if I really were to move back here, Alex would have to travel to and from Taiwan for work, which would be very difficult ‘cos of the quarantine rules over there.

You’re only back for a month so we guess you won’t have time to take on any acting gigs.

Yeah, it’ll be pretty hard ‘cos it’s not easy for us to come back, so I just wanna make the most of it instead of doing something else that might take away my time with my kids and my husband.

We don’t know when’s the next time we will be back again, and anything can happen, so I feel that being together as a family is more important right now. My priority is my family.

Photos: Yvonne Lim/Instagram