Winter's Fairytale

17th - 19th February 2009 The Current House

2009-10-28T21:15:00.012+08:00

17th February 2009
Daddykins came down with me and Khuan, just to make sure we were setttled in [hugs] love ya daddykins. Mumsie didn't come down with us though. These photos are the empty apartment that welcomed us when we touched down at Melbourne.

This would be my room. It came with the bedsheets and pillow+pillowcase.
This is the hallway outside my room.
This is Khuan's room.
The other side of it. We had switched the position of the bed and the table later because the ports were above the bed...
And this is the bathroom / toilet. Nothing extravagant, not that we need it.
This is Khuan, resting after 8 hours of flighttime.
I told her to strike a pose for the camera and this was what she gave me. [lol] Original-ness. The sofa is in the living room / kitchen / dining room. It's technically all the same room / space.
The sink area (came with the chopping board)
The kitchen part of the room. Set with microwave, refridgerator (it's a brand new one, sweet~!), toaster (which was cranky that we got a new one from the management) {I remember that overburnt bread will set off the smoke alarm so best to get a new one) and a waterjug (which we didn't use because I got a better one from my old housemate from Unilodge, thanks Brett wherever you are)
We wanted to get our stuff that was in the storeroom but Frank was out so we ventured to see Khuan's university, RMIT. From where we stayed, it was virtually next door.
We walked past a bilboard in the city and it was advertising "Wicked" the musical. Daddykins was really interested in watching it (plus he needed to find something to do on wednesday since I had to register myself for my course and Khuan had orientation I think)
While waiting for Daddykins to buy his tickets, I was just looking around in the reception area of the ticketing kiosk... delicate structures.
I like this. Too bad there isn't a backdoor to fantasy land...
Looking around some more. Daddykins was in luck since wednesday was the matinee so it's was cheaper.
I'm thinking if it's originally like this or there made it for the Wicked set....
Can see that there are some setup for the Wicked stuff in the foyer which were behind the doors that were locked. So I just took a photo of it behind the glass.
The other side of the "You are now leaving Oz" poster.
Went back home to document the original stuff that we were provided.
The stove top and the plates. There are the electric type so no need for matches or starters.
The empty cabinets (though there were some ermm... chicken stock cubes but I threw them away since who know how long it's been there)
And this is the dining / living room part of the space. We got this small but sufficient sized television to watch (beggars can't be choosers). After breakfast, we got the stuff from the storeroom and started unpacking there and then.
In a few hours, we unpacked the kitchen stuff (bought a new rice cooker since the old one that we brought over died in the end) {I'll point out that we are currently using a 2nd one (exact same model) now because this one died about 5 months later and I couldn't find the receipt} [points to the right most] that's the water jug that we are using now.
The hallway. There's an intercom phone. To get into the building, you need to have the building's passcard to unlock the double security at the main floor. Else, you call the person you're visiting via the intercom. There's a button that we can press to allow people to come in.
That's just me preparing lunch.
In the hallway, we placed this shoerack (one of the many things we salvaged from the place people throw out stuff in the building - just washed it and strengthen the structure with rafia strings) and a collapsable? laundry basketbag thing (that I found someone put outside in the lift area of Unilodge) Really handy. ^_^

The laundry rooms are on the even numbered floor on our building. We're lucky to be on one. Hehehe~! There's a washing machine (aud 4 per wash) and a dryer (aud 3 per wash) in the laundry room. Random, we had bought this HUGE box of detergent powder (10 kg) in the very beginning of 2008. So far we've only used 6.5kg.... What am I going to with the rest... [lol]

This is Khuan's room after we did the switch.
It makes much more sense to have this position anyway.
My room. It was pretty easy to unpack, may as well since it would be a bother to search for stuff in boxes. [shrugs] Don't know how Evelyn lived like that last year. I understand her logic about no point unpacking if she was going to move again anyway...
Think this was us preparing dinner. The dustbin (this was just one of 4 that we picked up from the rubbish area - don't worry, we got them all washed down and disinfected before we used them.)
There wasn't a balcony area to hang our laundry though. So we just open the window and hang them nearest to the window. Random, I only bought one of these clothes hanger-thingy... now I have 4 of them (3 were my ex-housemates' at Unilodge)
Daddykins had the kitchen / living / dining room as his bedroom while he was staying in Melbourne. The sofa is also a bed but it's got poor back support so he normally just take the floor.
Nothing much different in the bathroom / toilet. Just put a mat down and the shampoo and soaps, toothbrushes and stuff.

18th February 2009 Federation Square

We didn't go anywhere much after settling in. We looked around in the museum in Federation Square. Took photo of the funky looking interior ceiling.
There was this big screen in Federation square, just real-time feed of people walking around federation square. This was daddykins' five minutes of fame. [lol] before we just walked away.

19th February 2009
Just photographed the outside of our room. I do recall that the night we went to fetch my elder sis from Southern Cross (she came to visit us from 22nd - 26th May 2009), we saw this SUPER duper drunk girl unconscious on the floor in front to those doors. I could see that the girl had vomitted and that's how I concluded she was drunk. We were rushing to meet my sister so we left her there. When we came back, there were some people attending to her. [shrugs]
Anyway, we continued documenting what we were provided with so that later we know what we bought and stuff...
Daddykins just photographed all the utensils while I just wrote it down in my organizer just in case.
Nothing much to cook with. Just a skillet and frying pan. I had a small pressure pot from Neha (thanks darling) and we bought a big pot (which we use a lot) later.
That was the big luggage bag that I came with. Though I think it'll be very heavy in the year end when we travel back home.
Think this was just us preparing breakfast. I concluded that from the messy bedhair of mine. [lol]
That's all for now. The next post will be of the Ballarat trip we took with Daddykins. Didn't post it just yet since there are quite a lot of photos to sort through for that one. =P

Til next time, cheers~!

16th February 2009 Flight to Melbourne

2009-10-22T13:09:00.004+08:00

I think it was pretty much just a little packing up stuff since most of my stuff was already here in Melbourne... in a storeroom in the apartment that I'm staying in now.

Though I don't know how it still got to quite a bit to bring over.... [swt]

But anyway, we were flying over to Melbourne with daddykins. Zie Wei and Alin (bless them) came over to say goodbye to Khuan.... and me I guess. [shrugs]

Thanks for coming to see us off and we look forward to seeing and hugging you guys when we get back, k? [hugs] yes, that includes Alin too (though I'm not sure if she's a hugger type person) [snuggles Zie Wei]

But finally, I'm moving on to Melbourne type posts. [lol] Cheers~!

10th February 2009 Chap Goh Mei

2009-10-20T19:50:00.025+08:00

Finally at the end of Chinese New Year... [lol] I look forward to Chap Goh Mei since it's the day that I opened the angpows. Well, that and we go up to the temple.

We parked down near Midvalley and walk up to Tien Hou Gong (I think that's the name..) Ooo.. there was a lion dance in front of this restaurant.

But yea, there are light displays up there every year. This is the entrance lights.

The temple itself is stringed with lights. XD

I'm not sure if it's all light up during the whole Chinese New Year but I do know it's nice and lit up during Chap Goh Mei.

There were lots of people celebrating the last day of Chinese New Year too.

There was a stage set up and shows performing....

Singing in costumes... Can't understand what they're singing since my Chinese level isn't high enough. [snicker]

Singing and dancing... Ermmm... Dad took this with the tele-lens. From where we stood, they looked like specks.

There was this set up too.

We were standing just watching it rotate...

The ox up on the top reminds us that it's the year of the Ox.

It took us a very long time (and many shots) to get this one. Hahahaha~!

The zodiac 12 family members displayed like paper lanterns.

I wonder why they chose to pose the Ox like that.... [shrugs]

The dragon looked like the emperor amongst the others.

Silly doggie and welcoming piggie.

Happy Bunny.

Some characteristics of the Ox.... it's alright if you can't really read the smaller ones. all you need to note is "please do not touch" [snicker]

Me and the Ox. You can see the rabbit in the background since the tiger is on the other side of the pathway.

Dragons... Colourful dragon on colourful clouds.

Inside the temple, there was an event going on...

My guess is a quiz of sorts. Can't read it... So we just move on to the top floor.

All you see is red~! The same every year really...

Don't think they take it down... though my guess would be that they would need to replace whatever that is fused and stuff... Anyway, we normally go up to the top floor to kau cim (just in case you ask what it is, wikipedia has the answer > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kau_cim)

Relatively good for me. So it's cool...

This year what we different would be that some people had set up their telescopes out in front.

It's not your cheap kind of telescopes but rather these big boys~! I think some people were looking up to the moon to see if they can spot any "lucky" numbers to buy. [lol]

The moon was really bright that night... oops this photo was taken with my camera flash... [resets camera]

It really was about THIS bright that night. XD

[happy smile] I like looking at the Kirin. Must say that I really learnt to appreciate them from reading a manga, Petshop of Horrors (sounds grim I know but yea...)

On the lowest floor are things that you can buy... like these ermmm... windmill kind things. Suppose to change your luck (of course you buy them to change the bad luck to good). Come to think of it, I have one that I stuck on the wall... might need to take it out from the room at least (wouldn't want to change my good luck to bad now, would we?)

Until there for now. Cheers~!

1st - 10th February 2009 Chinese New Year Part 2

2009-10-04T11:00:00.002+08:00

1st February 2009 - Klang Trip
Every year, I call Eugene over to my house to celebrate Chinese New Year (as seen in the Open House bit) and then I go over to his place to visit. I take the KTM down to the Klang stop. Takes about 40 minutes to reach his place... and that's not factoring the time it takes the train to come (almost never on time).
In the beginning, Eugene called a whole gang of his friends to visit him. Then the next year, it was just me that went down to his place. Brought Khuan along this time round. Can't really remember how many years it's been between us... [goes to check] Most probably right after SAM and that was back in 2003. Oh my god, I've known Eugene for 6 years already. How time flies. Hahaha~!

After coming back from Eugene's place, later that night, my family and I went to Aunty Lay Chooi's place (mum's friend).

She got a new house last year but I couldn't go so it was my first time there.
Didn't take any photos of her new house (since that would be like invasion of people's privacy) so you'll have to make do with random photos instead. hahaha~!
It used to be that mum's friends came over to our house (my guess it's because it was the big enough to accommodate the bunch of us). The new house is pretty big and nice.
Yea.... there was a lot of people... not enough space for me to "play with the food" so I just sat it out and took photos.
Not that I was able to change place since everyone was pretty much crowded around.
When it started, there was a roar of well wishes and laughter around the table.
I'm pretty sure everyone is familiar with the "Lo Hei". I have it like 3-4 times a year (around CNY of course). The arrangement of the food was pot luck. ^_^ yum yum.

7th February 2009 - June's place
I got invited to go to June's place for her open house. The only thing was she had invited like a ga-zillion people. She had invited people from her university and from secondary school.
We played mah-jong while waiting for out turn to eat. It's really saying something when one has to play mah-jong to wait for our turn to eat... [lol] That's Jess presenting her mah-jong tile.
Khuan was one of the other player.
Woan Wei wearing her bright red t-shirt~! Ong ONG~!
No money was involved though. oh well. Was teaching Zie and Jess how to play mah-jong and stuff. hehehe~!
They're pretty quick learners. Just need more practice. =P Though we really shouldn't teach them these sort of stuff.
In a random corner of the house, the host was tucked away discussing something...
I don't know what they were discussing but yea...
Got to see her handle her guitar if that's any plus point. [grin] Maybe I ought to pick up the guitar... Seems more likely to happen than the violin I guess. [lol] I don't know why but I think that violins are sexy. I bet that Pui Yee can insert a "dead chicken" comment somewhere around here. hahahaha~!
A group photo which is blur and I'm sorry... my camera is not "canggih" (sophisticated) enough. I look forward to going to your house again, June~!!! Thanks for the invite.

8th February 2009 Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) and meeting Sunny
We met up in KLCC for lunch and MPO
We had our lunch with Zie Wei. Though she didn't order anything...
We met up at Little Penang Cafe.
This was what Pui Yee ordered if I'm not mistaken. XD mind me, it's been like 8 months since I took this photo...
This is what I always order when I go to Little Penang Cafe. It's the red ruby dessert. This is the before shot..
And this is the after shot. Frankly, the previous one looks very much more appealing and stuff but I like to eat it like this. XD
Oh, other than dessert I had the assam laksa as well.. At least I think it's assam laksa... hahaha~! After lunch, Zie Wei left (yea, she only popped by for lunch)
It was quite a long while since I last saw Kuan Win. It was interesting to find out that he was teaching back in the One Academy. We'll catch up when I get back. [grin]
Later that night, I had dinner with Sunny , Sabrina...
Pui Yee and Kimberly back in Midvalley Japanese Restaurant.
This was what I got... Curry Chicken Katsu with rice and pickles.
Well, that and this. Cawamushi (I think that's how it's spelt)... [drools]
The following are food photo spams of what the others ate~!
Food photo spam~!
It doesn't look like a lot but the bowl was pretty deep so yea.. looks can be deceiving. [snicker] Let's hang out some more guys~!

9th January 2009 Mel and Chris
Interestingly enough, the last time I met Mel (yes, this is the 3rd Mel I know) was back in Melbourne (Boxhill stop) when she was going to the Melbourne Japanese Festival as I was leaving the station. Hahaha~! I saw her as she was going down the escalator and I was heading up. The world is a small place sometimes. But yea, we met up with Chris over a drink to catch up.

Later that night, I met up with some more friends.
Oops... this isn't a photo of my friends but a delicious bowl of lemak laksa at Little Penang Cafe. In case you didn't realise by now, I like eating at Little Penang Cafe in KLCC. Hahaha~!
Anyway, Chuan Lo was down in KL for a while from New Zealand~! ^_^ She migrated there with her family. It was nice to meet up with everyone again and it certainly won't be the last, ok girls?

10th February 2009 Cake
I can't really remember how this cake came about BUT if I'm right, it was a cake that mumsie and daddykins brought home from a wedding dinner. It just looked so incredibly colourful and cute that I was playing photography with the cake. This was the best shot and looking at it makes me want to eat cakes now. Hahaha~!

The next post would be the Chap Goh Mei post and that would be the last day of Chinese New Year. ^_^ Uploading these photos more or less took forever using my Internet at home.

Until next time, Cheers~!

31st January 2009

2009-09-16T16:10:00.009+08:00

Every year I invite some friends over to my house for CNY. Most of the time the selection of friends depends on who I invite and who is free.

This was what we served my peeps this year. ^_^ all homemade (except for the select few like the mandarin oranges and the pie in the lower left corner)... and by mumsie [send my love to my mumsies] Mumsie made us the things that would be put together nasi lemak~! [drool] i miss nasi lemak....
This is the group this year. ^_^ oops, big light in the way.
Second shot, both were taken by eugene's camera and his tripod. ^_^ Let's see...

1st row L to R: Eugene, Kimberly (kim), Jaslyn, Melissa (mel) and Sabrina (sabs)
2nd row L to R: Yoong Yoong, Pauline, myself, clare, pui yee, khuan (foxy)
A very interesting turn of events led me to inviting Yoong Yoong, Pauline and Jaslyn. Nothing against them but I just normally don't invite people to my house unless I know you for years.... Nor do I invite people very much different from my gang.
At the table photos: Pauline, Jaslyn and Eugene.
At the table photos: Take 2.
At the table photos: Mel and her sister, Clare.
At the table photos: Sabs and Kim. ^_^ Kim is wearing the souvenir + birthday gift I bought for her in Melbourne.
At the table photos: Pui Yee and Me.
After our hearty lunch, we moved down to the living room and relax... Yea, it's just lunch and relaxing at my house. hahahha~!

I'm not that good in hosting... XD It's more like I offer a venue and you guys figure out what to do other than the food bit... ~__~ sorry
Keng Yen (my good buddy) came later than the rest but she brought goodies with her.
Yay~! Chocolate muffins? If I remember right, it was all chocolate icing... hahaha~!
And caramel and dark chocolate ermmm... cake? Anyways, they were both made by Keng Yen. She's awesome in making desserts.

The three girls left before everyone else... ~__~ I'll note that even my normal gang was a bit surprised that I invited them (since they were really different from who I normally hang out with). I was a little disappointed that there was this awkward tension in the air. [sigh] Bad chemistry experiment this time round. It's not anyone's fault, it's just the chemistry.

Thanks to my gang for being there for me, nonetheless. Love you guys and hope to be back soon. Missing you lots and LOTS~! Even Eugenia. [snicker] Cheers~!

30th January 2009

2009-09-09T15:28:00.006+08:00

When I heard that Khuan was going to visit some of her friends' house (and that I knew some of them), I asked if I could tag along. Frankly, I don't know if they minded but I had a blast. [grin]

We went to Zie Wei's house where we had homemade lunch (yummy~!) [L to R: Khuan, Woan Wei, Sou Leng]
[L to R: Zie Wei, Alin, June & Jess (Mok)]
What I found most interesting was that Zie's mother does chinese painting. XD They were pretty but stored in the back of the house... or were those the new ones waiting to be hung up... [shrugs]
After that, we made our expedition to Woan Wei's house. XD Her mum gave us angpows before going out... so we had the house to ourselves. [evil laugh]
I remember that I was most fascinated by the pair of jade kirins on the table... oh, there was this beautiful display of ermm... displays (crystal stuff, figurines, etc) in the living room.

We ate watermelon (though it was more like; forced to eat them...) hahaha~!

I insisted that they took this group shot, outside of Woan Wei's apartments. [lol]

Lastly, we dropped by Sou Leng's home. In all the houses, if you noticed, we took box drinks (normally brands of yeo's, drinkho, etc...) I prefer those above canned drinks since it's more "healthy". [lol]

Ooo Ooo... I loved them prawn crackers in Sou Leng's house. I'd say we were more actively eating in Sou Leng's house because we were hungry by then...? hahahaha

We ended our house hopping sessions at my place... if i'm not mistaken. =P Should be right since we all went out for dinner later that night...

Though I had told the girls that I had a dinner appointment at Midvalley later that night. So we drove whoever that needed to go home first, then we drove to Midvalley. Had dinner with Chris and Eugene (forgot to take his photograph)

We ate at Manhattan Fish Market... while the girls went elsewhere to eat.

I didn't know how the girls would have interacted with the boys so that's why I didn't ask them to join us.... ~__~ Oh well. That's all for now. Cheers~!

25th & 29th January Chinese New Year with Family

2009-09-05T18:31:00.021+08:00

25th January 2009
After all the posts about Chinese New Year decorations, it's about time to add photos that we're celebrating Chinese New Year. [lol]

The reunion dinner this year was back at home. [lol] last year we had celebrated our reunion dinner as reunion lunch and went up to genting for dinner concert and stuff.
So first up is the yuu sang. hehehe~! We buy the normal packets that they sell in the supermarkets and adding extra carrots, turnips and some more salmon. Yum~!
The fun part is seeing the yuu sang being setup. [grin] Mumsie, daddykins and Jessica (my elder sis, Jie)
Our family reunion is with family (duh~!) [lol] (L to R: May-Jie, Pak-liong, Hong-Koh) Yuu Sang is always fun since you can toss the food about and say good sayings.
After the Yuu Sang, we setup for the main course. ^_________^ Mum cooks them all. Awesome~! [drools] I miss mumsie's cooking a lot.

Random: Khuan doesn't drink wine except if it's sparkling wine~!

29th January 2009

Visiting relatives are nice since you get to catch up with what everyone is up to. Certainly would be better if we stayed in touch besides the CNY period but at the very least, we meet face to face once a year. [grin] And then there's some more dinners and stuff.

That's Joanne. (yea, I know. She's got the same english name as myself.) She's my cousin brother's wife.

That's Khuan, "guarding" the wine. [lol]

What's dinner without a little karaoke function? [lol] I'm not sure how you and your family celebrate CNY but one fun way is to mix dinner with karaoke. More of that later.

[L to R: 4-sok, Daddykins, Alvin & Jie] Alvin is my soon-to-be brother-in-law. Hmmm... don't know how the relationship dynamic would be between him and myself but so far I treat him as a friend. Good enough?

You'll mind me... I don't have brothers to compare relationships with... [shrugs] 4-sok and daddykins are brothers so maybe I'll ask daddykins later. But at the mean time, I'm not worried about it.
[L to R: 2-jiong, Joanne, Kwong Yong Piu-Koh, Kwong Lam Piu-Koh (Ronan for short)]
2-ma is mumsie's elder sister. Mum only has one sister so on mum's side it's a pretty small family. Not forgetting my favourite (and only) grandma, popo (though she's not in the shot)
We chat merrily while waiting for the dinner to come.
Oh, mandarin oranges to eat while waiting [peel peel, eat eat] Xp Don't you hate it when the mandarin orange you get is a bit sourish....
Ooo... more yuu sang. I tell you, during Chinese New Year, I eat up to an average of 4 yuu sang every year. [lol] Though Jessica (my sis) says that she ate more since she eats it with her friends as well. Sometimes plus the office dinner might have one... Hahaha~!
In this shot, we ARE holding tea to cheers~! hahahha~! The service was pretty slow, unfortunately.
But we're in the mood to cheers so we don't really care that it's tea anyway. It's the thought and mood that counts. All about the timing.
4-seasons dish. (though if you count with me, there's 5 there) [lol]
[ka-grin] More photo shoots in the room. 4-sok and Alvin.
Oh oh, this is a best example on how cute my po-po can be. Here we see Kwong Chi Piu-Koh (Erwin for short) and mumsies in the cheers shot and po-po in the background. She looks like she wants to cheers too....
Lo and behold, a cheers shot....
... Or NOT~! [lol] We were laughing so hard later. Popo just wanted to reduce the red wine the staff poured into her glass. Love my grandma. She's so cute~!
Erwin and mumsie's snicker shot.
When they finally served the red wine, we did a 2nd cheers~!
Shark's fin soup.
Chicken... served with hot rocks and fire... [stares at the pretty flames]
That's me, Khuan and Erwin... Laze mood...
"Bring on a smile, guys" says daddykins and takes this 2nd shot.
The younger part of the group...
I don't know what we're grinning at... but I do know that Alvin and Jess are in the background selecting songs to be inputted into the Karaoke machine.
FISH~! I love fish. Fish is good.... [drools]
Daddykins love the head of the fish. I prefer the part besides the head.
I love just about any seafood. [lol] Prawns... If I keep drooling like this, my keyboard would drown.
As we come to the midway of dinner, we enjoyed ourselves with some singing.
This was an interesting way to present the lo-mai rice.
We tried to get everyone to sing. That's Alvin.
I get to sing too. ^__^

Erwin like singing too. [grin]
Everyone doesn't seem to mind of our singing. Hahahah~!
More photos from the dinner.
Some more photos.
That night was 4-sok's birthday. So we brought out the cake (more food~!)
It was also a celebration for 2-jiong's birthday too, which was a few days earlier.
The cake~! yum~!
Photo spams...
Spam~!
If I remember right, we were singing "My Way"
While Mum was serving the cake.
It's plenty fun to sing together.
Even Ronan got into the singing bit. Though he needed a bit more prompting...
Top form top form.
Awww~! So cute. He was singing a romance song at that time, of course.
Photo spams...
Erwin and his mum, 2-ma. Singing a duet.
The singing duo.
They were having lots of fun, singing.
[grin] and I enjoy taking lots of random photos. hahahah~! Oops, he caught me in the act/
Photo spams...
More photo spams....
Ooo Ooo.. even Jie got into the act. [grin]
Photo spam..
More photo spam...
Mumsies and I...
Family shot~!
Girls shot. We only got mumsies to sing when we inputted "top of the world"
Hehehe~!
This one was uber fun to do since we were like the backup dancers... Hahaha~!

Not everyone sang that day. Some needed some coaxing before they would take up the microphone. And some didn't take up the microphone even though we asked a lot of time. [shrugs] We get to do all this behind closed doors, of course.

It's all fun and family. Cheers~!

[p/s: The lighting for all the photos are pretty messed up between yellow lighting and white lighting since it was really the yellow lighting and the flash makes it pretty ermmm white...]

22nd to 24th January 2009 Outings

2009-08-29T21:37:00.012+08:00

22nd January 2009

I've been keeping in touch with some of the girls from primary school but never had the opportunity to see them. So when they invited me to go out to yum cha, I was pretty happy. [lol] I've not seen most of them since standard 6...

There were some primary-school classmates that I saw while I was in Form 1 & 2 since I went to IDJ (Institute Desa Jaya - I think...) and also Mrs. Ang (was it... for maths tuition class). Hmm.. So I guess the last time I saw them would be form 2 perhaps... [shrugs]

Here's Jacqueline. ^_^ Back in primary school, teachers would ask her to write on the board since her handwriting was pretty. Not only the teacher... We would nominate her as well. [lol]
Was a librarian.

Next is Chui Mun. When I saw her, I nearly couldn't recognize her. [lol] She looks much more mature over the years (I'm not saying that she looks old but rather she's someone that I would trust responsibility with). Back in primary, she was very close with Jacqueline and Hui Jing. Also a librarian. [grin]

This is Ming Foong. She is one that has not changed over the years. [lol] I remembered that she was the very first person I had asked if I could be friends with her... which she promptly rejected. hahaha~! no worries, we're in good terms now. Back then, she was practically one of the boys (aka tom-boy). Very energetic and out-spoken.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to Kar Yeng. ^_^ She was in the M class (note that the previous 3 were in the same class as myself, the K class). Although she was in the other class, we know her well enough to know that she's the smartest kid in our batch. [bows down to her]

I'm still wondering if she even knows me or not. XD I'm one of those below average in class.. [shrugs] She's plenty friendly.

[edit: This is Hui Jing. Hmmm... let's see if I have a better photo of her...]
[swt] right, actually met up with her, ming foong, chui mun and jacqueline at another yum cha session on the 3rd february at the same place. [grin] If I remember correctly, she was the shortest girl in our class (during assembly, we line up in the assembly area according to height - I was near the back). had met up with her more recently than the other girls.

It was nice to catch up with the girls. Chui Mun and Ming Foong are working in the same company. small world. Jacqueline and Kar Yeng are still studying. Hui Jing just finished studying and is working now... I think... XD. I think Kar Yeng has also finished studying and is actually here in Australia... somewhere. [twiddle fingers] Can't remember...

23rd January 2009
The next day, I had arranged to meet up with Melissa Bong. ^_^ I'm the type that would arrange according to the other person's convenience since I guess I don't have much of a life? [shrugs]
Met up in Midvalley. Took this photo since I thought the trees were pretty cool like that. ^_^ [edit: I look at it and go "layers~!"]
Midvalley's CNY decor 2009
Plenty of red and lit and also yellow everywhere (to represent gold colour I suppose)
Most of the decor is focused in the Centre court. With the big stage and stuff. If I'm not mistaken, there were some performances arranged every other day... not that that was my purpose for coming here. [lol]
Ta-da~! ^_^ This is Melissa Bong. I call her Mel... which isn't a good move since I know 3 Melissa... hahaha~! Errmm... I met her when we were in the student comity in TOA. Considered in my books, wild girl [grin] In all honesty, she's a nice person to talk to. Outgoing and friendly. [hugs]
Later that night, I met up with another Melissa. [lol] This, my peeps, is Melissa Wong. Carefree and happy-go-lucky. [hugs some more]
And her younger sis, Clarissa (Clare for short). We went out for dinner at Sunway Pyramid, thai food. Gyuu~! Love Thai food.
[grin] Solo photo of Clare.
And that's me and Pui Yee. Teehehe~! [glomps Pui Yee]
Solo photo of Mel.
Hehe. The previous photo was blur-ish so I added the non-blur version of her (photo). Fufufu~!

Was a nice sit-down and catch up meal. Went to Mel's house later that night and meet up with her mum. Aunty is nice and a warm person. [grin] I have a smile on my face, remembering about aunty.

24th January 2009

It's like one meeting after another. [lol] I enjoy my time with my friends. It's hard to organize everyone that know each other to meet at a particular date. Plus, it's less of a hassle to meet up with them when they are free. I like the one-on-one time. ^_^ Was hard to make up the time to meet up with Keng Yen, even though she just lives in the same neighbourhood of me. [lol] Had set up a few meetings to meet up with her. she's super busy with work and stuff. In the end, I won though. The key: Persistence.
We went out to a nice lunch in One Utama. Our drinks.
My lunch. Like the sausage. hehehe~!
We ordered an appertizer to share.
It was ermm.... meat wrapped in bacon I think.
And this cheese baked goodie~! Sorry if I forgot the names of the dishes....
Hehehe~! "Wanna a bite?"

I'm looking forward to meeting up with my friends when I get back home. I don't meet up with lots of people in Aussie, though I do meet up with Su Jin and Chek Lee when they invite me. No one else though. At least not that I can think of...

Everyone's busy and stuff so yea... [sigh] Let's meet up when I get back k? Cheers~!

18th January 2009 to 21st January 2009

2009-08-25T15:27:00.004+08:00

18th January 2009

I got to meet up with Sze Sin after a long long time. She's one busy gal. So when she proposed to have breakfast together, I jumped at the chance to meet up with an old friend. Hope all's well for her.

I think after our meeting with her, I was helping around the house in the spring cleaning bit... Was pre-CNY after all. helping daddykins with the painting. This year we painted the wall around the house, the black gate and the white grills of the house, ermmm... and the ceiling of the patio / verandah. hehehe~!

helped mumsies with the cookies / biscuits. ^_^ did kuih kapit this year... and dragon biscuits (that looks more like snakes.. hahahha~!) I'll try to remember to take photos of all of my mumsie's delicious cookies. heheheh~! I love my mumsie's cooking and baking. XD that's a good and bad thing. Good thing is that I have lovely food but the bad bit would be my over-indulgence....

19th January 2009

The next day, I met up with the girls (Yoong Yoong and Jaslyn) at KLCC for dinner. Something like a "let's update how's things since we came back" sort of meeting? hahaha~!
We had a good time just hanging about and chatting and catching a movie. Can't really remember what was the movie we watched. But I took that opportunity to invite them to my house for CNY. note though that I normally heavily consider who I invite to gauge the chemistry of my normal gang... I love to spend time with my gang and stuff but sometimes people and people don't get along...

however it was carelessness on my part and also intense curiosity to invite them into my normal gang. [sigh] I fear that this year's chemistry was most disappointing. On a side note, I love it when I get invited to other people's house. I'm more or less the only one who organize bigger gatherings though... [swt] extremely grateful for my parents' generosity. without it, can't have them gatherings at my house wei.

20th January 2009

Oh oh, it was more fun on my side to have met up with Darren. hahaha~! It's hard to tell if he enjoys my company or not. [lol] then again, I think he's the sort of person who won't meet up with you if he didn't like you. so in that view of thoughts, I'm honoured, darren~! [lol some more]

well, the last time I met him (would be this one), he was still teaching at the One Academy. this meeting was a lunch together at murni? (i think it was murni's) would be great to meet up with some more cd42 people. ^_^ I accept any invites to meet up with friends and try to attend them if I can~!

21st January 2009

went to pyramid. got to see all the chinese new year decorations. ^_^ this was on one part of the building...
and this was the other... love it and stuff... but as far as I know, blue isn't a good colour for the Chinese. [lol] But I can guess that this part of the decor is to include the other races (forgive my use of that word) into our celebration. It was pretty nonetheless.
Was suppose to meet up with Eugene for dinner but he was late so Khuan and I ate dinner first and then waited for him.
Hehehe~! the man himself. I believe he had forgotten about our meeting time and overslept our agreed meeting time. But he still quite quickly made his way to meet up with us. note that he stays in Klang. XD

on a random note; I want to know how to drive down to Klang and go to his house. would be nice to bring pui yee and sabs down to Klang to Eugene's place. ^_^ His mum is a lovely person and she lights up when I come over to visit them...

Thinking about it, I think I will still invite people over to my house for Chinese New Year (just a select few) and maybe some other occasions so that my house would be filled with joy and laughter and presences. With my parent's permission as always that is. Hehehe~! Cheers~!

16th & 17th January 2009

2009-08-16T23:59:00.001+08:00

Random insert... I realized that I had written down some notes of after I had landed that I didn't add in anywhere. >_<

28th December 2008
the trip back was interesting since my parents was on a flight that was 12 hours earlier than mine (or was it a full day ahead). I'm still trying to get the hang of flying by myself in an aircraft. The mysteries of the check-in is much cleared up now that I had checked-in by myself.

I'm a little embarrassed to share this part of the story since it's all true and stuff... let's see. We all know that we need to make sure that the check-in luggage isn't too heavy. But flying out from australia, there are guys who would stop you and weigh your carry-on luggages...

I was stopped by the man and he weighed my carry-on. It was 9kg. The guard asked why so heavy to which I answered on the top of my mind what was mostly in the bag... "biscuits". (awkward pause) The guard laughed and asked me to follow him... I thought I was in trouble but all he wanted me to do was to repeat my answer to the other guard at the door. Which the other guard laughed as well...

He let me through in the end (the max weigh for a carry-on is 5kg by the way)... I guess it was the straight face I had when I said it, the uniqueness of the answer and creditablity that I was bringing back 9kg of Arnotts biscuits. Thinking back what was in the the bag (other than biscuits) were Sab's 2 packet of muesli oats, my 3 pair of jeans, chocolate bar, etc... [shrugs]

[reads notes] Oh yes most important this part. On the 28th December 2008 evening (when I touched down), I messaged to mumsies, daddykins, khuan (my younger sis), Jie (my elder sis), pui yee and nini that I arrived home.

Jie replied more or less "Welcome home~! I've got good news~!"
I raise my eyebrows and replied back "hehehe~! thanks~! I thought by me coming home it's good news enough" (ceh-wa~! Self-praise self-praise)
The good news: Alvin proposed to her that morning
AWESOME~! Congrats... [slaps self] talk about late good news. hahahahah~! better late than never? Fufufufu~! of course I congratulated them already la~!!!

note to self: I'll see if I can grab their wedding photos to post here... fufufufu~! Wedding's next year though. [grin]

Anywayz, the moment I got home, I immediately dumped my luggage at home and head off to Sentul to pick up Pui Yee and have our dim sum supper with Khuan. Bliss~!

29th December 2008
Morning: Mum showed me how to cook bak ku teh.
Afternoon: Saw Jie's ring
Night: Went out for dinner at Old Town White Coffee at Kerinchi and watched Bolt 3D with Nini, Aishah & Fatin

30th December 2008
Finished unpacking and went out for dinner with Alvin and my family at SS2 New Paris Chinese Restaurant (seriously don't ask me WHY it's called Paris for a chinese shop...) Decent food. Fast service~!

Finally with those really done and over with.
16th January 2009
Had wanted to meet the girls for a good dinner together after not meeting for the whole year (give and take that is). We (Sabs, Kimmy, Khuan and I) decided to eat Korean near our area.

Fabulous eats. Silly photos~! Love them.
Tried a few variations... [snicker]
A sporting look perhaps? A twist in new fashion? [lol] NAH~!
I really really tried to have a good poser look... which I failed. =P Ah well, you just can't win them all...
Delicious food. >__< I'm full just looking at that... [burp] The night ended with each of us buying japanese ice-cream [lol] as if we didn't eat enough already that night~!

17th January 2009
We (the same gang) were to meet up for some karaoke sessions~! Can see that midvalley has the Chinese New Year decor up...
I like them. It's bright and SHINY~!!! and glittery... =^____________^=
We were smart to go in the morning session since we didn't have a booking in advance... Didn't think there would be so much people who would karaoke in the morning man~!
It was a karaoke + lunch deal... [shrugs]
Oops... All that talk and I forgot to show you the food photos earlier. [snicker] Not that there was a lot to choose from... Each we ordered one main dish, a drink, and the rest was self service. [shrugs]
Just a shot to show that we are indeed karaoke-ing and not posing with the microphones only...
I realized that we should have kicked the table across the room and not have it stuck there like that. Used the timer function of the camera.
I will add that I think I took like 4 photos all together. These are the last two. The first one... forgot to set the flash on. black. The second one.... forgot to set the timer... hahahha~! that one you could only see my thigh and the rest of the girls. [lol]

I had a excellent time and we really ought to have a good time like this again when I get back and many more. Until next time, cheers~!

The Bad Tooth

2009-08-16T15:00:00.007+08:00

1st January 2009

Allow me to pre-warn you that the following picture might put off some people and I am truly sorry for putting you off I guess...

You may want to skip looking at the photos... I can't make them extra small or anything. But yea.. I shall write a whole long description so that the photos might be out of the browser window and way below that you can't see them or something...

Anyway, where was I heading by all this. It was actually after the bbq night really... I didn't want to attach this post with that one since that one was such a nice and jovial event. Believe it or not, I more or less greeted the new year with a terrible toothache~!

Yes, a terrible tooth ache~! The one that is super duper irritating. My guess before anything was that I knew that while I was in Melbourne 2008, that one of my tooth filling came out... Had wanted to get it patched up so I thought it was that tooth that was given me problems.

We all know that to see the dentist, you normally have to book many many days in advance (well, at least the ones in my area... we only got 2 dentists). New year's morning, I sat down to place a booking with one of the dentist... They were fully booked for the week and could only slot me in the following week.

I was very much in misery and pain... that I took painkillers. I normally don't take them unless it's that bad. I always opt to sleep away the pain if I could. But yea, it was THAT bad. Dad could see that I was miserable so he helped me to call the other dentist and told them that we stayed nearby (which was true) and that we would take any available slot should one come up.

Surprisingly, 30 minutes later, they called back and dad immediately brought me to the dentist. (side note: it was my more favoured of the two dentist I'll add). Marcus (the dentist) proceeded to check the teeth... and as he was tapping my teeth (i really dislike that feeling), lo and behold, it was not the tooth that I expected but rather the wisdom tooth in the back (my left hand side, innermost).

That wisdom tooth had been trying to grow out but it couldn't. For years, I kept having to clear out food that get stuck there with the toothpick and stuff. Since it was way behind and out of reach, I guess it was about time that it would give me trouble.

Marcus could see that it was decaying and there was really no saving in the tooth... [shudders] He told Dad and I that it needed to be extracted. We took an x-ray and Marcus concluded that it might be a little tricky to remove it (aka dental surgery). He asked if we wanted to come back another day to prepare or he could do it then. Of course, we decided to do it then and there since who knows when he would be available next.

Marcus proceeded to prep us what was to come. He warned us that the extraction of the tooth might jolt some nerve and that if it did, I would lose feeling of certain part of my jaw for a few days... sounds scary I know but hell if I were to put up with the pain.

he estimated 20 minutes to settle it. not that he had much of a choice since his next appointment is 20 minutes later....

Ermm.. the details of the extraction.. sum them up... he gave me 3 injections to num the area (though at first, he only gave me 2 which were enough). He had to saw up the tooth... >__<

Marcus was my favoured dentist because he's more charismatic if compared to the other dentist. One word to sum up the other dentist: wood (muk in cantonese)... Though my younger sis prefers mr "wood" dentist since she doesn't like the small talks. [shrugs] I'm also the curious one so I would ask Marcus what he's doing sometimes. The only thing that wood dentist have an advantage over Marcus would be Marcus doesn't accept credit card... which is a bother since no one really carries that much money around...

right, so all the time during the extraction, marcus was doing small talk and kept apologizing and said that he didn't like to do that to a familiar? (sook in cantonese) patient. he's nice about it and was actually got the blasted tooth out in about 18 minutes. He wasn't rushing (not that he can... it's surgery after all) But yea, he did a few stitches to cover up the wound and made me bite the cotton? (it's not really the cotton cotton type) to soak up the blood.

my jaw and tongue was pretty numbed after that... he gave me some antibiotics and painkillers and told me to come back after a week to remove the stitches. He also told me that I may have to stick to liquids since the pain of chewing might be evident. He also gave me the blasted tooth~!

I took the photos after I got home la... You can see that it's all rotten-ish inside already... the top part got sawed off...
Side view of the blasted tooth... It was still a bit bloody..
a close up of the rotted part... XD If you may it this far, congrats. I did not gross you out THAT much. Though I will point out that you can poke it and it's soft-ish... [shrugs]

But yea... the first 3 meals were porridge and milo... I got very much better by the 2nd day and was back to eating solids (slowly). hehehe~! I guess my love for food sped up the healing process? [lol] But I was extremely glad to have the pain go away. I really can't imagine having to wait 7 days with THAT thing in my mouth... [shudders]

Thanks daddykins for helping me push the receptionist to place the booking. [hugs] Cheers~!

The New Year Party 2009

2009-08-12T15:14:00.006+08:00

You cannot believe how happy I am that I'm finally getting the blog from year 2008 to 2009. Hahaha~! Though the photos in here are technically taken on the 31st December 2008... [shrugs]

It was a small get-together party. I had wanted to meet up with peeps that I was more or less dying to see after being in Melbourne for a year and stuff. ^_^ no offense to those that I didn't invite la. I didn't have much days to prepare, though note that my mum always and lovingly goes beyond her call of duty? [lol] for me. The smaller the group, the better. =P

Things won't go this smooth without my mumsies. hehehe~!
The amount of food that we got for the night.
It was my first time to try to bbq the fish. That's Jess' (mok - to differentiate the few Jess I know..) fingers by the way. [lol]
The setup was about this simple. 2 BBQ sets ready and set to go. fufufufu~! That's my maid there manning the fire by the way.
Kimmy, Jess and Khuan here... to help with the preparations. [hugs] thanks~!
The feast... I apologize to those who hasn't eaten anything yet... hahaha~!
Manning the fire. ^_^ pretty fire....
You can see that the food is sizzling off the grill~! [salivates]
Jess armed with a skewer~! RUN~!!! [lol] I think that this skewer might actually be more deadly than her kendo stick... [lol some more]
The fire was going on so good that we were practically cooking faster than we could eat. Hahaha~!
Yum yum~! It's lovely just to watch the fire... I'm sometimes distracted by fire to the point that the food is a bit too "well done" [snicker]
The food that mumsie and the others handle are superb... mine is slightly charred. Fufufu~! I still eat it anyway.
Soon, the evening became night.. and we're still having loads of fun~!
Zie is so cute~! [cuddles] She's like a satay man~! hahahha~! So serious.. In case you're wondering, she's applying honey... or was it butter... [shrugs]
Oh, this was the first time I met Sou Leng? Forgive me if I got the spelling and even the name wrong~! Hahahahha~! She was one of the late ones...
Pui Yee was a bit late too. >;3 at least she came. kekeke~! To help finish the food, right? hahahah~! Yes~! That's beer~! Goes so well with roasted marshmellows... [drools]

[lol] Other than them, we extended the invite to my aunt's (mum's sister) family and grandma~! They were inside the house... having steamboat. hahahha~! So it was a steamboat and bbq party. =P Originally it was just a bbq party but grandma wanted steamboat SO yea. [lol]

The party went on... we ate our fill, cleaned up, packed up and waited for the new year fireworks. Cheers~!

2008 Flight back

2009-08-03T14:37:00.007+08:00

Here I am writing about going home when I'm actually back in Melbourne already. [lol] But that's the fun of it, I guess. [snicker]

27th Dec
In the morning, we took a maxi taxi @ station wagon (van) to shift my stuff to the new place. I actually managed to fill half the taxi with my things. Didn't think I would have this many things... and I was just in Melbourne for a year. (Hate to imagine how I'll deal with the stuff that I have NOW later [shudders])

The taxi fair was aud28. Frank, the handiman (he's from China) came down and let us in and put my stuff in the storeroom. My room was still occupied by the previous tenants until the 31st December. Anyway the storeroom was pretty big seeing that my things only took up 1/4 of the room. Noted that there were other people's stuff there too.

[brain died] Just inserting some random photos here.... taken on the 28th December 2008 while waiting for the airplane to be ready for boarding...
[extra note: Just some photos in the waiting lounge...]
And this is why I want to get a psp / gameboy advance / nintendo ds. [lol] [hint hint] Cheers~!

Boxing Day in Melbourne (2008)

2009-07-30T16:18:00.004+08:00

It was the day after christmas. Also known as boxing day here. Which equates to MAJOR SHOPPING DAY.. XD
The Myer sales apparently began as early as 5am (dad saw the tv and stated it). Not that crazy to buy things... however we did go to Myer to see around... But all the clothes were still very expensive
We also made our way to David Jones, (walked past Hugo Boss), JR Duty Free. There we bought 2 bottles of liqour; 4 boxes of hand cream. The condition of buying duty free stuff is that we had to show photo ID (passports) and the airline ticket to prove that we're going to take it out of the country and stuff.
Went to Swanston St (the photo above is not Swanston... Errr... it's either Lonsdale or Bourke) [snicker]
So far we bought... for mum; it was 1 pants, 1 dress, 1 pair of shoes + myself; 1 top, 1 skirt, 3 jeans
We did more or less window shopping otherwise. hahaha~! had to control the buying, if not too much to bring back home. fufufufu~!
It was still nice to see the Christmas decor in some places.
There were a lot of people out in the city to do their shopping and hanging out. ^_^
Dad went to the Crown casino halfway from our shopping. no surprise that we (mum and i) was to go and meet him at the casino later for dinner. [lol] I didn't play. Sensed that my luck was pretty bad so not playing for a while.

After dinner, we did some more super packing. [lol] 10% left.

Cheers~!

Day Five of Tasmania Trip (25th December) [aka Last Day in Tasmania]

2009-07-28T17:13:00.011+08:00

You knows you're behind on quite a many of things if your parents points out to you that you have not been updating your blog... hahahaha~!

"Was awaken at 6.30am. Packed all the electronic (handphone charger and stuff) and clothes."
I was sleeping on the top bed... which was ok. It's just that... the ceiling was pretty low...
Hahah~! You can see my luggage there in the photo. All packed up. hehehe~!
This was the kitchen that we used to cook our meals. Look at how clean it is... Of course, we're suppose to clean up after ourselves and stuff. Here, the people do. Don't think it could ever be this clean in the asian countries. [sigh] anyway, had breakfast in the dining room. we had tim tams and some german spice cake...
Oh, oh... I got to stroke Fuji the fat house cat. Look at him~! He's huge~! ^___^ making him very lovely to stroke.

waiting for the office to open at 8am to check out. That's the outside of where we stayed. Lovely place really. very clean accommodation and facilities.
after checking out, we drove to the Gorges (Launceston's basin chairlift) but it was closed... oh, not because it was christmas day and stuff. We were there early... well, they were open later and closing earlier since it's christmas and stuff. XD but not by much lor.
We walked a bit until the suspensions bridge....
[fast forward] we're now at the suspension bridge. [lol]
From the bridge, we could see the riverview on one side...
and a view of the swimming pool in the other....
ok... so maybe it's not as close as you think it is...
somehow, I feel like we're zooming far far away or something...
hahaha~! beauty of zoom lens~! [grin]

We left Launceston at 9am. reached airport at 11am... ate spaghetti lunch (which we cooked in the kitchen before we checked out and stuff) but too much so had to throw away since we're not allowed to bring food onto the aircraft. boarded plane at 2pm and reached back in Tullamarine Airport. thought have to wait for 6pm to make use of the 2-hour train tickets but 24th % 25th Dec, no train tickets required.

Meaning we got to travel for free. I tell you, it was the most bizarre experience for me [grin]. anyway, had wanted to go out for christmas dinner at Glenferrie road but ALL the shops were closed. that's really saying something since Glenferrie road is pretty busy. Had wanted to head to Crown casino (it's a casino... unlikely that it would be closed) but the train was delayed... plus we got pretty hungry so we went back to the unilodge room and cooked dinner.

after dinner, we did some packing and stuff (the packing here was referring to the things that i was going to leave behind in australia for my stay this year). mum is a super packer. need to level up to her level... hahahha~!

well, that's the end of the Tasmania trip... interestingly enough, I did write more notes until the 28th december 2008... haahah~! Would be awesome to speed things up in terms on blogging and move onto the 2009 year... hahahahha~! You'll just have to wait like good little children I know you are. Fufufufuf~! Take care and cheers~!

Day Four of Tasmania Trip (24th December 2008)

2009-06-18T16:18:00.036+08:00

Finally I've come back to update another day of the Tazzy trip... Technically I'm now super busy with work but bleh, I want to update this before it rots here. Hahahaha~! Good thing I have my travel notes so I'll more or less type whatever I wrote there..

Woke up at 7.30 am. Went to the kitchen to help mum with breakfast and lunch - french toast. [looks at notes] okkkk... the recipe for french toast was 3 eggs, 6 teaspoons of sugar, bread. [lol] lunch was omelette (onions and ham with mushrooms)

Had left the hostel. Dad had misplaced his handphone and stuff. was worried that he may have left it in the previous place. anyway, we went to Coles to buy white peaches and mineral water and also to check abalone prices (but coles didn't sell them) {note: what we didn't know was there was a ban / greatly reduce of sorts on sales of abalone because they were overfishing?? not sure... hahaha}
But yea... we were in the car when dad accidentallty backed the car into that green thing above. could see the tree but the green thing was in the blind spot... ~___~ we were all a bit >__<;; (aka "OH MY GOSH~! Is that what we think it is?" moment) Dad wasn't happy with the car thing and the handphone thing... in the slump of the moment, I was pulling out magazines from the back pocket of dad's seat when I saw his handphone. Quickly and triumphly returned the handphone to dad so the mood in the car was better. hehehe. good life-saver that one. moving on with the trip, we headed into the city centre (a few roads down) for the bank and to try to find the abalone. instead, mum and I bought perfumes (it was a steal - 2 for aud25. day before christmas sales marrr), nailclipper (mum... or was it dad's hang nail drove for this search) and clothes (all no more than aud16.95). We stopped over for lunch by the river.
Lunch. Pretty simple. bread with omelette + cheese + tomato Those are the fresh strawberries. [points excitedly to the punnet of strawberries]
Headed out of the city to Cradle Mountain, Devonport. We stopped at a few fruit / fresh food shops, looking for the abalone but no luck. In case you're wondering why we are looking for the abalone and stuff, apparently one of the places abalone was imported from was Tasmania... [shrugs]
But yea after the long drive (1.45 pm to 3.15pm) {in which I drove halfway, dad drove the rest}
At Cradle Mountain, we had to pay for the daypass again. The drive was pretty much one lane, so driving cautiously was a must, giving way to vehicles was important. (Impossible for Malaysian roads. [lol]). The condition of the road was good.
There were sections of the road that bottlenecks to force the driver to drive slowly (or that there isn't much space in the first place.)
When we got to Cradle mountain, it was pretty cloudy and nothing that spectacular... ooo, crow~! I think it's interesting that their yellow eyes stand out so much. =^__^=
Anyway, yea, nothing that great (compared to what we saw in New Zealand), so we didn't walk all the way in plus if we were to walk in, it would have taken us 2 hours to walk around Dove lake [points to the lake]

And 3 days to walk up to Cradle mountain [points to the mountain in the background]
Imagine 3 days out in the bush country with all the wallabies and other bush animals... I saw some people with big backpacks and hiking sticks. I'm like "wor~!"
(Just a photo of evidence that I was there - interestingly for a cloudy day... the shot was a bit over-exposed... [shrugs])
Photo spam 1~!
Photo spam 2~! Oh you have no idea just have many shots of this tree I took... I thought it looked lovely highlighted like that against the dark Cradle Mountain. =^____^=
Photo spam 3~!
Photo spam 4~! If only the road to Mordor was pathed like this, I think Frodo and the fellowship might have reached there a little sooner...
Photo spam 5~! Hop, Hop, Hop Mr Crow.
We did walk a little closer to the lake's edge at least. [lol] There's only so much that the tele lens can zoom. hahahhahahha~!
photo spam 7~! Mum and I walked a little bit further to get photo spam 2 one... hahah~! Sorry if the order of the photos are a little out of order. I'm a little miffed that the system I used to sort the order was a little messed up... that's what you get from using 2 cameras... [sigh]
I got a photo of Dad taking photo but decided not to add it since that would increase the amount of spamming. hahahah~!
Anyway we went to Pencil Pine Creek. Average waterfall.. about 10 - 20 minutes walk...
Went to Enchanted walk. about 20 minutes walk. River shot.
Another River shot. heheheh~! I'm wondering just how cold is the water....
More photo spam 1~!
I saw this sign board and went "dry fly fishing"? OKkkkkk...
There was a lodge out here at the semi-mountains area. Guess it's like a getaway of sorts...
More river photo spam~! Had to be careful not to lose our footing...
Some photos of the bush plants...
Close up of the lovely flowers.
So we were walking along the enchanted walk path and saw this composition. I thought it was interesting and dad and I did a series of shots actually.
But what I liked best was this one. Hahaha~ I just post the winnning shot.
then another composition came into play.
got mum to model this time. hahahah~!
I like this one best though. heheheh~!
Oh this one is of dad selecting "the rock".
He does consider pretty hard which one is best.... the photo is just evidence of that. [lol]
Oh this shot was pretty funny because mum was waving her jacket to shoo the flies away. [snicker]
My parents are very sporting people. serious. we are also pretty random, in a good way since it's makes for interesting shots like this one. we were like oooo... footprint. would be fun to pose as if we step on it.
Oh. that was mum's shoe. [snicker]
Dad's idea of dramatic shot. ^_^ it's like a "we conquered Cradle Mountain" kind of shot... though there's the absence of Cradle Mountain... [lol] fun to play with shadows.
Left cradle moutain national park (it's a world heritage by the way) at 6.29m Heading back to Launcester.
One reason why one should be alert when driving on the road... you never know when cows decide to cross the road? hahahah~!
But yea, I slept most of the way back (dad driver) {of course I took these photos before sleeping} Slepth only after finishing the cherries that is... (they were beginning to be black-ish and turning soft).
Photo spam x~! {I lost count... hahah~! plus I'm lazy to scroll up... XD)
Photo spam y~! I love how the trees are so white... looks great against the blue blue sky~!
Reached the Country Club at 8.30pm. Settled to eat some food at Watergarden Restaurant. Our pre-christmas dinner. Had porterhouse steak, roast of the day (lamb) and chicken kiev. Waiting number 77. Went to play casino. Not lucky... happens.

wait for mum and dad, they were playing roulette (don't get the game) {interesting note: i was playing a trivia game recently, and there was a question that asked what was the total number you get if you add all the numbers on the roulette table; 666.}

anyway, we went home at 10.30pm. took shower and helped mum to cut vegetables for lunch and breakfast the next day (lunch - spaghetti, pasta sauce, diced mushroom, sliced hot dogs, diced tomotoes; breakfast - fruit cake (from coles), coffee, tim times, German spice cake (lovely) and strawberries. finished at 1am...

Phew~! done with one more day of the long overdue Tazzy trip. hahahah~! Can you believe that it's already mid-year and I'm still working on things back in December last year... hahaha~! oh well. That's the way the cookies crumbles... ooo cookie. [munch munch] Cheers~!

Day Three of Tasmania Trip (23rd December 2008)

2009-05-16T21:22:00.019+08:00

Woke up at 7.30am. Ants in the toilet, had gone there barefooted... hahaha~! Went down to the kitchen. Had coffee and egg sandwiches for breakfast. Pulled out pillow cases and bedsheets and check out from the backpackers.

Reached Richmond at 9am. According to our broucher, it says it's the oldest town around. Walked into a woodcraft shop. There, we were told that there were some trees that only grow in Australia; Blackwood and Sassafrass for example.
The roads in Richmond was pretty quiet...
We drove to see one of the oldest Catholic Church. [read notes] oh wait, it is the oldest church in Australia. You'll excuse me if I say that the church was very simple indeed... Nothing like the renaissance-gothic style of church that I like. You'll forgive me for not knowing the name of the style... hahahha~!
There was however this lovely tree outside the church...
Anyway, went to the Richmond Bridge.
As you can see, we fed the ducks, seagulls and sparrows with some bread. Mum suddenly reminded me of the Goose Girl. XD hehehe~! We later headed off to Campania... Let me say it was a long drive (thank goodness I was napping behind). Apparently in my nap, we past Swansea. [shrugs]
We arrived at Freycinet National Park, the lookout point was lovely. To gain access into the National Park was interesting. I'll start by saying that we were technically in the middle of nowhere... there was this little wooden building. It's a self-service sort of thing. You take the car sticker from the envelope and stick in the car, you put money into the envelope and put in into the box. People are trusted to be honest.

The day pass was about aud22.
Anyway, we are honest people. And we got to this beach... Friendly Beach. I kid you not, it's named that. I raised my eyebrow when dad said the name of the beach...
The lookout point was so beautiful that we quickly made our way to...
The beach itself~!

I would have frolicked happily in the beach...
But it was terribly windy and really very chilly.
Initially we wanted to eat our lunch out at the beach but it really was so cold that we ate near our car... It was so funny that we were more or less huddled in spots that weren't windy...

(The corn was so sweet that you've probably never tasted one as sweet as the one we did, hotdogs, egg sandwiches + zucchini, peach, apricot, boiled cauliflower)

We did meet some wild bush animals; above is a wallaby. So yea, wallabies (2 playful ones), porcupine, gila monster
It was a lovely drive down. I think that's Cradle Mt in the distance there.
Passing by Coles Bay (I think that where this was). I got daddykins to stop the camera for me to take some photos.
We were heading to Wineglass Bay lookout... though along the way, we did stop at this ermmm camping areas...
Yea, you get to rent campsite area that has direct access to the beach. We stopped at one of the areas. Ok, we technically took a wrong turn. Hahahah~! But seriously, it's like getting your very own private beach...
Anyway, back to Wineglass Bay lookout... Don't mind me, I tend to go snap-crazy when I see wild animals...
They were close enough to touch...
Though I didn't since they said not to (since it's wild and all)
Right, just to get to the lookout....
We had to take this tedious, uphill sandy walk up. It took us 45 minutes to walk just to the lookout...
It was no joke man... Of course, there were signs that gave the estimate time of the walks. Plus advice like wearing good shoes and having bottles of water, use hat and sunscreen...
You know... that sort of thing. The 45 minutes was a killer... and that was just to the lookout...
But it was a lovely view. It looked like a wineglass which holds blue cocktail with green / yellow in the bowl of the wineglass. To take this shot, I had to stand as far back as I could and tilt the camera (like duh~!). Of course, the shape would have been more obvious if we had taken the helicopter trip but.... yea, we're not the kind to spend money like that.
Anyways, then began the walk down... bleh. We took the boulderpass instead of the scenic route we took (where we could see coles bay lookout, richardson beach) thinking it was shorter... I believe it was longer... I had slipped twice on the slippery sands. Nothing serious, just scrapes on the right arm but we did make it down by 4.30pm... (think we started at 2.40pm)

Spotted this Brunnett Wallaby in the bush.

We made a quick stop to the lodge nearby; Freycinet Lodge. Lovely pier and stuff. Drove towards Laucester (4.53pm). I took over the driving for a while and then napped some more after someone else took over the driving. hahaha~! Drove to Perth (Haha, not that Perth we all know and love, but rather there's another Perth down in Tasmania, as well as a Richmond)
Reached Laucester backpackers. It was certainly an upgrade from Pickled Frog. A room to ourselves, no creaking floorboards, no shaky beds, no ant-infested floors, spacious rooms, clean kitchen. We paid aud22 per person per night for this triple bedroom. Note it's still a single room.

Anyway, we showered and hanged our clothes out to dry. Walked to a Shanghai Restaurant for dinner. Had fried rice, small charsiew and Mongolian lamb. Dinner was fabulous, though it did come up to aud60+

After dinner, we went to Coles to buy groceries. We went back to the room and dropped off the groceries... And made our way to the Country Club.... Casino. hahahha. Random; Mum and I aren't happy to drive at night... so dad normally drives at night plus in the city. XD the directions to the casino on the broucher wasn't clear so we made a big u-turn before getting here... it was smaller than Wrest Point (only 3 tables; 2 blackjack and 1 roulette table). No luck for me... hahaha we arrived back at the room at 12.47am and slept.

Day Two of Tasmania Trip (22nd December 2008)

2009-04-21T11:14:00.033+08:00

Author's note:
'Oh my god. After Easter break has come and gone, it was as if a dam broke or something~! I'm now up to my waist in work to do... hahahah~! I super duper apologize for the delay.My internet at home is not the greatest in the world... though miraculously I was able to upload these photos... one by one.

Can't work on them in school... but now since I can do it at home, it's good. Can fall back into the routine of updating the blog... slower than I ideally want. I've still been taking photos (though not as much since I'm not sitting next to a window anymore... I miss my sunset spot...

Anyway, on with the update about the Tasmania Trip. If you're wondering why I'm still bothered to do this even after so long, it's because it's ultimately for me since my blog is my journal and I plan to keep it as chronological as I can.'

Woke up at 7am. Mum was downstairs cooking breakfast, went down to eat breakfast (which was 2 pieces of sandwiches made up of bread, zucchini, smashed eggs, ham and garlic butter)

(Here's a photo of mum in the common hall)

Dad washed the dishes while I helped to pack lunch away. (The common kitchen, at least we can cook our own meals)
(You can play chess too if you wanted, hehehe) We left the hostel at 8am. Heading to scenic look out point. Not much there to look out... I did play with the swings there, hehehe
(Duckies~! Quack, quack, quack~!) We stopped by the Royal Botanic Gardens again.
Saw lilies, Canna, Lavendar, etc. Left again at 9.16am.
(We drove past this road which I thought was pretty interesting... )
(It was a long stretch of road that was paved across the lake...or was it the river... hahah~! I think it looks pretty awesome regardless. Reminded me of the one-lane bridge back in New Zealand I suppose...)
Heading to Sorrell Fruit Farm.
(The flowers looked lovely, the pinks and the purple... smelled gorgeous too)
There, as an entrance fee, each of us was required to buy a punnet (that plastic box you see mum holding) and was allowed a max of 1.1kg each. Should you exceed the weight, you would have to pay more money.
(There was a sign of the names of the berries... I didn't know there were that many kinds of berries...)
(You actually can look at this fruit chart that tells you what fruits is ripe for the picking, when their season are and the price) It's soooo much cheaper to come to fruit farms to get the fruits and fresh. hahah~! How more fresh can it be... We're picking them off the trees and bushes.
We had fun picking the fruits...
Bosenberry (taste sourish), Loganberry, Raspberry (very small ones), Tayberries, Silvanberry, blueberry (mum took a taste, too bad it wasn't ripe yet)
(I'm not sure what berry photo is what... hahaha~!)
(But these ones look very much ripe for the picking)
Walked past unripe apricots, apples (march), nashi pears. (Dad actually picked one and ate it... hahaha~! From his face, you can tell that the fruit was SUPER sour)
Went to harvest the cherries~! There were two types; a smaller, sweeter cherry which was yellow red and then there was the normal, slightly sourish cherries (deep red)
(It was my first time harvesting for cherries~!)
(And there were so many to choose from~!)
(They grow in bunches like this...)
(They look a little like cherry tomatoes, don't they?) I harvested while eating...
I only filled my punnet halfway when mum came to show me how much she picked. hahaha~! Oopsies~!
We then went to harvest strawberries. (I had picked strawberries before in Cameron I believe. But I think this one was cooler~!)
Oh in case you're wondering, we paid Aud 9 per punnet. Made our way to Eaglehawk Neck View. .Drove nearer to see the terracated plains, it's like a square-rocked pavement but crumbling. (EDIT: hehe.. thanks to dad i got some photos to show you what i was trying to describe)

Stopped to see a Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park but because it cost aud 26 per head, we opted to buy a aud 13 picture book instead. After that, we continued our journey to Port Arthur. I was pretty shocked to see a big visitor centre building. I had thought it was like Elizabeth St Bay. I didn't expect it to be a big scale tourism thing when dad told us that we were going to visit Port Arthur.

We took the bronze pass which was aud28 for adults and aud23 for me, student consesseion. This includes walking tour (40 minutes) and the harbour cruise (20 minutes). Our tour guide, Heather was funny, good, charismatic guide. For a prison for 40+ years, they made some impressive building / system.

There was a hospital (but no anesthetic), asylum, the main cells (used to be a flour mill) which is able to house 400+ inmates, the separate cell (introduced when the physical punishment lost its effect) aka the dark and dumb cell, the church, the civil row (this is where people like lawyer, accountant, surgeons, upper class people stay = family of the guards). Althought they stay in the other side of the picket fence, the free people were also in a sense like in jail. All they have is a fine English garden but beyond that; nothing.

Sat on the river cruise, was a lovely weather; clear blue sky, windy. By the time we were done with the cruise (I'm a little sad that I forgot to copy the photos from the SLR which is why this section is without photos EDIT: thanks to dad, at least i got something here now. hahaha~! thanks~! [hugs & kisses]), we made our way to the memorial stone in memory to the random shooting that killed a number of tourist in 1996 (done by a crazed gunman who was caught). Here, dad had pointed out that one of his friends had been a victim to this sad tragedy. His friend's remains was laid to rest back in Malaysian grounds.

I was in charge of driving back to Sorell. I had not driven in 10 months (11 feb - 21 dec). I'm still in one piece so it's good. Haha~! Back in the city, we made our way to the fruit market again to buy tomorrow's breakfast and lunch.

After that, we had KFC for dinner. In the hostel, we had a new hostel mate (My parents and I shared the room with one more person), a japanese girl who was here on working holiday. Anyway, took a good shower and then went to Wrest Point Casino again (8.20pm - 11.20pm). All left with winnings. hahah~! Went to bed at 12 something.

Day One of Tasmania Trip (21st December 2008)

2009-03-26T07:16:00.026+08:00

So yea... My parents and I went down to Taszy (Tasmania)

I'll just write down what I wrote in my travel journal.

(Though, on second thought, I think it's pretty plain without any narration in between)

Up at 4.15am, Taxi came 5am, was not ours but taxi still took us. (Our taxi came just as we left.. I felt bad for ditching the other taxi) Stopped the other passenger at Southern Cross station. Reached Tullamarine Airport at 5.30am. Check in at Jet Star self check in and dropped off my luggage. (It really was a first time to do a self check-in... The wave of the future but lacks the human interaction)

Watched Red Boots of Christmas while waiting to board plane. (In case you're wondering... it's a christmas cartoon. hehehe~!) Boarded plane at 6.45am. Took off at 7am. Slept and arrived at Hobart at 8.15am.
Picked up rented car from airport, Thifty. (I thought the roadsign warning for the possum was cute.. though I had to admit that I did see quite a number of flat ones on the road.)
Drove from airport to find Liverpool St. (that's one big overhead bridge 0____0)
Staying at Pickled Frog, backpackers place. Rooms weren't ready yet. (Did I mention that it was my first time to stay in a backpackers hotel?)
Walked around... (First it's pickled frog and now the quilted crow... what next... the grilled cow?)
(That's dad, consulting the map... note that we had driven here. Since we wanted to save up on fuel, we decided to walk instead. Luckily for us, it was Sunday and the lot we parked on didn't need any parking fees)
(Apparently mum was also curious what the quilted crow shop was about)
(It was a fantastic view of the city with all the christmas deco and the cotton swirls of clouds)
(We walked and came to a market square. The fish there is a drinking fountain. Cute~!)
(I was beginning to wonder if the signboards are actually like that or was it because it was the christmas occasion? It looks pretty much like in finding directions in christmas town...)
(I don't remember what this place is.... but on a wild guess, I think it's the town hall. There's something similar back in Glenferrie and even Melbourne town. If I was to reference it to anything back home home, the building at Dataran Merdeka? Though that is a court of law...and not a town hall, hehe..)
(One of the parks... which I also forgot the name to it. Remember taking a photo of the signboard.... [goes to look for it] Blah, details details... [waves it away])
(Here's dad, whipping out the video camera... Speaking of video camera, I remember that I got lots of vacation video tapes sitting at home, waiting for me to work on them... Hahaha~!)
(Just another take of the town hall)
Walked to Elizabeth Harbour.
Saw all the luxury boats. (The boats aren't really boats... I'd say there are ships~! They got sails and all.. Hahaha. You can actually pay and go for a boat ride but I must say that there's really nothing more exciting than driving the boat yourself [motorboat; did that when my family and I went to London, if I'm not mistaken])
(If I have a boat of my own... I would actually wonder what was I thinking when I could use that money to buy a PS3. Hahahah~!)
(I thought this sculpture was very interesting in this angle because it looks like an angel of sorts... Surprising that it isn't covered with bird do-do)
(A photo shot of the pier, looking to the town hall)
Ate at fishy business. (You'd think we would choose something better since the shop sounds "fishy")
Had ordered a seafood bucket and fish burger. We ate lunch while sitting behind the restaurant, overlooking the small lake. Lots of seagulls were attracted to our food... but luckily they had none. (But you can be sure that we were practically on our toes, in case the seagulls decided to swoop down and take our food. Though the thought of a massive seagull swooping is enough to give up the fight and go far far away)
(My guess would be this is an important building... Why? Because there's a flag pole on the top? Hahaha~! 'Does that mean that if one puts a flag pole on top of one's house that would be an important building?' In that case, I'll say that you're just being patriotic.)
(Besides, I should be able to tell apart a normal house from a building like this one... well unless you're very rich and like to randomly put statues above your front door, you win)
(Pretty yellow-ish green tree. The only time I see this colour back at home home was when I don't water the plants, that and chinese cabbage... YUM~!)
(As the sign says... "Mawson Place". Leaving the Elizabeth St Pier...)
(We came across the Tasman fountain.. I'll add here that the smell was a bit bad here since someone kind of peed into the fountain... Ugh... Aside from that, I think the sculpture were pretty)
(That's Abel Tasman. I don't really know why he's here... Let me wiki a bit. Hang on... [goes to wiki] [copy and paste]

Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603 - 10 October 1659), was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant.
Tasman is best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC (United East India Company).

His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands, which he did in 1643. Tasman, his navigator Visscher, and his Merchant Gilsemans also mapped substantial portions of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.)
Walked to Salamanca Road. We missed the saturday market (It was a sunday. Plus don't you think the little girl is a cutie pie too? Teehehe)
(We came to the fountain and it seemed to be a central spot for children really... They loved dipping their hands into the cool water.)
(I remember that one boy loved it so much in fact; that when it was time to go, his parents had to carry him away while he was bawling = To cry or sob loudly; wail.) Went to buy some fruits and nuts at the fruit market.
(At this point, we were trying to figure out how to get to Kelly steps on the map... We knew that it was somewhere here... It was until dad asked some guys that we spotted the very small signage below)
Walked to Kelly Steps while eating sweet sweet cherries (back home it's 80 cents for one cherry, here it's 30 cents one) (so you can imagine how thrilled we were that they were so cheap and so sweet =p especially mum) and also bought white peaches.
(That's wild lavender bush... It smelt so pretty walking past the bushes. Somehow I had imagined lavender to be less bush like... like our paddy fields or something... hehehe~! Would be nice if our paddy fields smelt like lavender... They would taste good and smell nice. hahaha~!)
(There was this big beautiful bush of red red flowers that was growing beside the pink exterior of this house)
We made our way to Battery point (nice houses~!) (At least I think this is battery point and all... It's hard to tell since there wasn't anything to indicate "Hey~! We're here or something")
(Just thinking if living in this type of house would be nice... It looks nice on the outside... not sure how furniture would be arranged inside..)
(The fun thing would be that there was this museum that house a bit of antiques.) (Since there was a fee to pay, mum and I sat outside whilst dad went in and took photos inside)
(I think that the flowers in the garden outside the museum is really much more awesome... mum took this shot. It looks dramatic, neh?)
(I think that's a peach... growing from the tree... I might have grabbed it if I didn't already know that it's not ripe yet.. But it belonged to the museum so I won't have taken it anyway)
(Dramatic lion statues at one of the other entrances of the park)
(It's pretty cool to be able to take a photo of the town like that) Headed back to Pickled Frog and we all took a nap from 4pm to 6pm. Showered at the common bathrooms. (Yup, the only thing that you actually need when you travel is a place to sleep and place to put the luggage, the others can be shared.) The water temperature was crazy. Cold, hot, cold... (Who knew it could be so "exciting" to shower)
Drove out. Arrived at Royal Botanical Garden, walked in for 5 minutes... and it closes at 6.30pm. (So we were practically "shooed" out of the gardens... Hahaha~!)
Stop by Cadbury Factory at Claremont but it's closed at 4pm (Sept - May)
(But even standing outside the factory, you can smell the delicious smell of milk chocolate.... [drool])
[sigh] (Well, we didn't plan to go to the chocolate factory but now I'm thinking that going to one would be fun~! I think I've been to quite a variety of factories... Batik, whisky, paper umbrella, animal skin production (just the later parts of it - I didn't see the slaughtering . de-skin part), dried seafood production...)
(It's nice that they have a picture in the car plate. Though I'm not too sure if I'd like a rafflesia on my car plate back home home. Wouldn't mind a tiger or maybe hibiscus but not orang utan or hornbill) We continued to drive up to New Folktown. There, we went to buy groceries (Chocolates + breakfast + lunch stuff) (Notice that we didn't buy anything remotely for dinner...)
(We walked into a Shanghai restaurant. But because it was close to closing time, we could only order for takeaway. While we were waiting for the takeaway food for dinner to be prepared, dad and I walked around in the small park)
Fried rice and noodles (which has lots of meat [grin]). Ate outside in the park near a church. Has found it earlier while waiting for the food. There was singing, but when we brought the food, service just ended.

Chilly evening to eat dinner out. (It was~! Mum thought we were crazy to insist on eating out in the park and not in the car)
Left for Wrest Point. They didn't check my passport. (In the case, you don't get it. It's a casino. Though I'll admit that they don't advertise it as a casino but an entertainment centre)
Played pontoon, which is similar to black jack. Mum won in her roulette. (I like pontoon. They reward you the moment you get black jack. Why you ask? It's because it's harder to get a black jack in pontoon if compared to normal black jack; they removed the 10 cards)
(Casino entrance... nothing of the casino inside because they don't allow photography inside... you know, in case you use the photographs to cheat?)
Dad lost. Had to wait for mum. (He really looked like the "dai lou" / big brother that own the casino...)
Had found a coffee machine that served free drinks at the pokey (machines) section. (Mum won money~!) Went back and slept at 1.20am

to be continued

19th & 28th December 2008 Room Cross-portal

2009-03-16T12:03:00.015+08:00

As you may or may not know, I'm now in my new apartment in the city.

19th December 2008 New Apartment

So right. After the graduation and stuff, we went back to house hunting. Remember I mentioned that there was an apartment that we thought was perfect except the only window was facing another building (in other words all you saw was a wall)...

We noted that the apartment building also had a notice with another number that was renting out a room. We call to try our luck, lo and behold... the very same apartment layout. Mind you that there was still the tenant staying in the apartment.
So the things you see here aren't all mine and stuff... It is fully furnished. The dining table and two foldable chairs are with us. It was the very same as the other apartment...
And the window actually faces outside~! As in, not feeling boxed in and stuff.
So from our window, we can see the State Library...
Melbourne Central...
and hear the busy streets below... Since I'm quite deaf, the numerous sirens and trams are ignorable. Hahaha~!
This one will be Khuan's room...
and this one mine...
Only one bathroom...
And the long narrow corridor. All in all, it's pretty spacious. The rent was aud 390. When we found out that the rent included a cap on water and electricity, it was a done deal~!
Explore what was outside....
My parents were relieved to note that there was a restaurant just downstairs...
Not that Khuan and I had went in there to eat yet. Hahahah~!
Next to the restaurant, there's a Korean shop.
Up round the corner is already RMIT. Can you believe it? My sister just have to roll out of bed and she's in college already. Hahahah~!
I have to take the train... At least it's not a long train ride and I don't have to wait at richmond no more. Which is a good and bad thing since I had learned to use my time waiting in richmond to write my fiction.
"I chose to live in the city so that it's more convenient for Khuan". My sister would debate; it was not her decision and that she wouldn't mind living near Prahran she says.
Frankly it's more convenient for both of us.

1. Food sold at the Prahran market is more expensive than Queen Victoria market.

2. Trains and trams run more frequently in the city.
3. There are more things to do in the city.
So yea, living in the city is the better option alright.
I think from all the photos I've posted here... has enough information for... say... someone who wants to fire a missile to my room... [shrugs]
It pays not to offend anyone... especially if they have access to missiles... [lol] I know, I'm being totally random~!
Here's an Indonesian shop that sells quite a bit of things which I'm familiar with...
Good thing that I ate lunch already before writing this section... I would be drooling at the computer if not.
Oh, in case you're wondering, all these photos of the room and city were taken by dad with the SLR camera... [sigh] I miss the SLR a lot...
I must admit that the photos turned out beautifully. Helps that it was a beautiful clear day~!
City Hall~!
No matter how many times I see it, I'm always going "Horsies~!" when I know a horse carriage is passing by. There are times when I don't realize the horses carriages... when I'm rushing to somewhere or if my mind is filled with other matters...
A far away photo shot of St Patrick's Cathedral (or was it St Peter's Cathedral..) I know it's a cathedral and not a church... though I don't know the difference actually.
A better shot of the count down to christmas banner at federation square..
Flinders Street station~!
I took some photos while I was accompanying mum in DFO (direct factory outlet)
This lady was suspicious... I was actually trying to take photo of the shop with at least some body walking in the shot... if not, I thought the shops would look a little empty...
After the whole day of exploring the city and settling the house deposit, my parents and I went to Glen Waverley (that's in zone 2) to meet up with Dad's friend for dinner who had migrated here.
That was the end of that day... I'll say that after this, we had a trip down to Tasmania.. which I forgot about it until just now.. I'll post it as the next post I suppose.

28th December 2008

Mum and Dad had taken an earlier flight (they booked airasia to come and to go back). I had bought a 1 year open ticket before the option to buy airasia come. So they left at midnight while I was to take a 1pm flight.
So after helping mum and dad carry the heavy luggage to Southern Cross station to take the bus, I got to cleaning up my old apartment....
(note that I have actually placed most of the things for this year in the store room in the new apartment - the previous tenant's lease only ends at 1st Jan and I was leaving on the 28th Dec)
Making sure that I didn't leave anything behind... throwing out the food that I couldn't keep in the storage room.
At this point, my roommates were not around anymore. Brett had returned back to America, Hanna left left just the day before I came back from Tasmania and Natalie went back to Hong Kong for the holidays.
I was just going around, saying goodbye to the rooms that I stayed for a year.
Not that I grew terribly attached to the room or anything. Just that I'm giving thanks for serving me for a good year.
I didn't really realized that I enjoyed the lots of time that I had for myself but I knew that I had missed being with my family since day 1. Hahaha~!
With a final glance, I left Unilodge and made my way to the airport. I'll point out here that I may have the many lucky opportunities to travel frequently but this flight back would be my very first time to check in and fly by myself.
I photographed this because I thought it was peculiar that they used "relax" on a departure notice board. [lol]

Reporting from the photographs, it's like I haven't gone home yet. Hahaha~! But the truth of the matter would be, I'm back in Mlebourne already.

18th December 2008 Graduation... Again

2009-03-16T06:37:00.012+08:00

The irony of this post would be I'll be attending my friend's graduation tomorrow. [laugh]

And here I am nicely posting these out of date photos. Oh well.

We got there pretty early in the day to get good photos before everyone came.

Mum and Dad even got me a little graduation bear. ^_^ I can still remember the flowers I got for my TOA graduation so a teddy bear is a new mix.
Dad took lots of photographs of me... So be warned that I'll be in almost all the shots...
Here's me, preparing to take the student shot. My sisters ain't missing much since it was about the same with TOA one. Hahah~! But it certainly miss the opportunity for them to come over.
Thankfully, it was nice and sunny and no wind.... Can you imagine the chaos I would be in if the wind was on high mode....
That's Jaslyn and I. We're at another building, Dad was experimenting with the different background colours...
That's me and teddy. (Come to think of it, teddy doesn't have a name yet... any suggestions?)
Oh, my dad was most amused with my barter trades... Here I'm holding Yoong Yoong's flowers.
And I placed Teddy on higher ground...
Jaslyn, Yoong Yoong and I. We're outside the Hawthorn Town Hall, where the ceremony was held... and will be held tomorrow... for the local students.
That's Su Khwin, Nita and I. I'll note here that I don't post my photos on facebook. I don't like the part of the contract where they say that all photos posted on facebook will belong to facebook...
Anyway, that aside, I'm back with teddy and returned Nita her flowers I "borrowed". Hahah~!
That's me and Jojo. She's in Multimedia. Oh, I'll note that Yoong Yoong, Jaslyn, Nita and Su Khwin are all in interior... And Man Yee, who is in the photo below.
I "borrowed" Man Yee's flowers and let her hold my teddy and her teddy. That's quite a bit of things...
Oh oh, I proposed this cute photo of teddy kissing. Hehehe~!
That's Jiew and I. He's a nice fellow. [nod nod nod] Has a good eye for photography. In multimedia. His last name is very long...
Here's Dedy (you pronounce his name as Daddy - yea.. it was pretty amusing to have a daddy in class). In multimedia too.
Just a random shot of the exterior of the Hawthorn Town Hall...
Here's a big group shot. Front L to R: Jaslyn, Yoong Yoong, Linda, Joanne and me. Back L to R: Nita, Man Yee, Yose, Bor.
A closer shot of Bor and I. He's a sensible guy and has a good head on his shoulder. Jovial~! His laughter is contagious! Was in interior. now studying cookery.
Here's Linda. She's really as cute as the teddy bear but strong willed and matured.
The multimedia people. Teehehe. Unfortunately I can only remember, Jojo, Dedy and Yui (the girl next to me)
But all's good. All that matters is we know we're multimedia people. Hahaha~!
A shot of the people who attended... that's mumsie in the blue shawl. [grinning like an idiot, waving]
"Now a word from our chancellor..." (i think)
Here's the only decent shot of me accepting the scroll. I'm super sorry of the big ugly watermark... I took it from the website... Oh, unlike the scroll at TOA where it was empty except for a "ransom note" of 'we hold your certificate hostage until you return in your student card on monday'... the one I received here really has my certificate in it and all...

I'm the student valedictorian.... Pfffttt... yea right.
At least I get to pose... Kekekek~!
Here's a cheating shot. Hahah~! We just use the chairs that were on the stage for the lecturers and there was a running slideshow behind us. It's a family shot of sorts right?
"Look, mumsie graduated~!" Yay~!
There was a long line to take photo of the swinburne banner apparently... so the five of us collaborated to take this shot. Oh boy... I'm bad with names.. L to R: unknown, Laila, Haniza, Nita and I (i think - oh I know I'm me and stuff.. and Nita, it's the others I'm not sure...)
" The usual toss the hat and then it falls and hits you on the head" shot
Out of the robes, Man Yee, Yoong Yoong, Myself with Teddy and Jaslyn.
That's Aaron and Pauline. They came a bit late...
They'll be graduating tomorrow; Bor, Raymond, Joanne and Linda. Congratulations. Heheh~!
Teddy's close up.
Teddy holding my certificate. Yay~! I've finally posted this.. Took me long enough I know. Hahah~! But you're not missing much since you've probably already seen my previous graduation ones... you might have even be in them, you know who you are. Cheers~!

17th December 2008 Crown Casino

2009-03-12T14:02:00.004+08:00

A break from house hunting...
We went to federation square to see one of the nights of a month long performance

We stood with a crowd of people, waiting for it to be showtime...

At federation square, there's a big cloth poster of the days of christmas

Where it's a countdown to christmas day...

Is a mix of clowns attached to wires and a clever use of multimedia animated projection.

I thought it was performed very well. The two clowns in the photos were actually suspended from wires and acting with a flat screen..
After that, we went to Crown casino. They had put up the christmas decorations
What I like about the decorations here (especially festive decorations) was the fact that every new hour, there'll be a show of sorts..
Presents of trees...
Shot 1
Shot 2
Shot 3
There's even a hidden santa claus. He appeared after the merry go round moved.
Lots of different things to see..
The presents on the tree revealed to be where puppets will pop out..

The music is pretty loud so you might want to reduce the volume..

Hehehe~! Cheers~!

16th & 17th December 2008 House Hunting

2009-03-12T09:14:00.008+08:00

16th December
My dad came one day after my birthday on an Air Asia flight. The first thing on our list to do was to select the apartment that my sister and I would be staying in for this year.

So after a good night's rest, we made our way through the short-listed list of apartments that we could potentially rent. We went to the agency that handled some houses and from there, see what else was available.

We were allowed to inspect the house ourselves but we were required to place a deposit of aus50 and given 30 minutes.

The first apartment was the cheapest in the list. It was in the middle of the city, quiet spot. The first thing that I noticed coming out of the elevator was the distinct Indian spice smell on the floor itself.

The apartment was for a small family. The wooden doors and panels had paint peeling off and rotting (ok maybe not THAT bad). The toilet can only be accessed if you close the bedroom door... you would virtually be smacked in the face coming out of the toilet if someone opens the bedroom door.

All that could be tolerated EXCEPT for the clear absence of data ports for internet. NOOOOOOOOOO~! Don't leave me without internet...

So we hopped to the 2nd apartment.
Compared to the first place, I really felt at ease with this place.

It's really a student apartment (basic necessities).

I really was liking this place but dad pointed out that the only window in the apartment is facing another building... he didn't really approved of it.

But in other terms, it really was the ideal place...

We went to see the Unilodge in the city too. There were a few unilodge in the city itself. This one was the swanston one.

It isn't too bad but it only has 1 single bed. The other places either had a double bed (the 1st place) or two separate bedrooms (the 2nd place)

The place wasn't half bad really.

The only problem was that a LOT of people were on the waiting list. The waiting list was long... 50 other people want to stay in unilodge too. Regardless, I submitted an application in (which come to think of it, they never returned to me about it)

Anyway, one full day of house hunting was tiresome. We visited my sister's college.

There's a long directory... well at least she'll know where to go. ("but the signs aren't updated with the renovations" my sister says)

This is just a random photo of me and the Victoria Hotel (i think). I like the architecture design of the building.

17th December.
We went to the next agency. There was an apartment that was beautiful but it was too far away plus unfurnished and it was 5 floors up that didn't have an elevator. The stairway was narrow. We took a very long time figuring out where the apartment was... it was that bad.

Mum was flying in on this day. Dad went to inspect another place while I went to go pick up mum from Southern Cross. My parents stayed in the Unilodge apartment I had been staying in since the beginning of 2008. The house hunt was still on...

(to be continued)
Cheers~!

15th December 2008

2009-03-12T07:52:00.002+08:00

When my own real birthday came along, I was pretty much by myself. [shrugs]
Took a trip to the city...

Random city walk...

I noted the christmas decorations in Melbourne Central. It's pretty nice. That, my friends, is a big ferrero chocolate golden christmas tree... Did I mention that it's hanging from the ceiling? They're not MADE of real chocolate, which is a pity. Then again, the idea of melting chocolate plopping onto the innocent bystanders below would be bad...

I actually thought that I would pass my birthday alone. I was fine with that idea when I thought.. "Now that would make it an ordinary 24 hours.. plus that would render me blank as to what to write on my blog"

I called Su Jin to see if she could join me for dinner instead. She was good to go and we (Su Jin, her sister and her sister's bf plus myself) ate at a chinese restaurant. Su Jin had gave no indications that she knew it was my birthday (not that I mind). The funny thing would be that she picked up her phone and was talking to her aunt, and when her aunt asked where she was, she answered "having a birthday dinner with a friend". [lol]

Well, the cat was out of the bag. She paid for my dinner. [grin]

Unilodge write on this whiteboard the birthday of people everyday. I wonder how this year's celebration would be like...Cheers~!

11th December 2008 Yoong Yoong Birthday

2009-03-11T12:35:00.009+08:00

Doing this now... it's like a belated birthday greeting card... [laugh] So this was Yoong Yoong's birthday party.

The funny thing would be that we celebrated her birthday on her day itself, which was awesome...

And had celebrated mine earlier since the kids were going to Sydney (at this point, they had gone and came back; now they're back in Malaysia and stuff) That's what you get for delaying blog posts...

The birthday girl was the one that drove the party really.

Even came up with a theme and all (thus the crown thingy on our heads)

Everything was simple in terms of food (potato chips and pizza) but a bit more full-blown on the decorations...

The flowers came from Evelyn and I by the way. Anyway, as to why the deco was in more emphasize is because Yoong Yoong's parents were coming the next day.

The decorative feel was to pleased her parents... to make them feel welcomed...

Frankly I don't know how "Happy Birthday" signs would bring cheer other than for a birthday party... but that's just me.

Cakes are ALWAYS good on ANY occasion..

well maybe except if you're dieting...

What I found interesting was that Yoong Yoong actually got a big badge with words of "birthday girl" on them.

We do know who the birthday girl, trust me but I guess by she wearing the badge, you can tell who the birthday girl is as well. [lol]

The candles for the cake we thought were the sparkly ones but apparently it was not... The cake here looks like it's starting to melt. Hahaha~!

I was most amused with this photo because Yoong Yoong was flustered about the fact she can't blow out the last candle.

All in all, the party was short and sweet. I'll end this post with my (still) favourite sunset spot. Cheers~!