The Ducks are on Board~ *Quack* 

The Golden Compass - "Is that all????"

4th December 2007

I won free tickets to the Class 95 Preview! haha... Fio had tickets as well but she gave away to her clients. Movie's at 9.15pm, Shaw Lido 4. We ate at Food Republic at Wisma. The jap food is good though i cant remember the name of the shop. I had a bento for $11.90 which was cheap since there was Tori Karaage, large piece of fried salmon, Chawanmushi and miso soup. Green tea was free and free flow. How cool is that =) Fio had Katsu Curry rice for ten bucks which I thot was ex as compared to mine.

Went to take some pics at the M&M house just in front of Lido.

Anyway, let's not stray too far from the main topic.

The cast was as beautiful as the landscape in the movie. The fight between the ice bears was intense and captivating. Eva Green and Nicole Kidman were stunning as usual; Dakota Blue was fresh and incredibly good. Overall, the movie kept me on the edge of my seat and left me wanting more, more, more!!

Jamie's Wedding @ Mandarin Oriental

30th Nov 2007

Rushed home to change and get the car as the wedding dinner starts at 7.30pm. We knew we were late.. it was just a matter of how late. =X When we reached Marina Sq, the carpark was full. When we finally got a parking lot, it was already 8.10pm. Fio had joked with Jamie that we'll walk in with her at 8.30pm and I think we did almost made it happen! Saw Jamie and Brendon standing at the door, awaiting the cue to march in. We hurried to our seats in a disarray fashion. And in came the bride and the broom...oops! Groom i mean.

Food was quality but there was no quantity. After 7 courses, we were hardly half full.

Oh.. missed out an important point. When we were served the braised duck, the waitress split the duck into serving portions, leaving more than half the duck meat still on the table. 1 of the guys then told her, " you may clear this now." and she cleared the duck!!! I kinda exclaimed and she said the guy asked her to clear the duck. That guy then pointed to a small plate of leftover vege (next to the braised duck) and said, " I meant this."

It was upsetting (the duck was SOooo good) yet hilarious. This incident definitely made the day truly unforgettable. =)

Barclay's Singapore Open 2007

3rd Nov 2007

Attended my first Golf event. The Barclays Singapore Open. Took us quite a while to find a parking lot. There were cars on both sides of the road all the way from the designated carpark to the hotel where we took a shuttle bus back down. 

We were thankful it was sunny.. at the same time the blazing sun kinda absorbed all our energies and by 2plus, we were deadbeat. Saw Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh. Felt like i was attending a red carpet event when Vijay and Phil walked past the crowd and pple were shouting their names!

 Here's a shot of Vijay and Phil respectively.

Well, we weren't supposed to take any pics but everyone's taking photos anyway.. and it's my first golf event, how can i miss taking a shot?

We left the golf course at abt 3pm and headed for Vivocity. Thereafter, we went food hunting. U guessed rite! Indian food at Race course road!

We walked like a mile before we found this shop! Jaggi's has a branch at The Signature.. where I had my first taste of Palak Paneer and i love it! It's mashed spinach with cheese. However, the main branch doesnt serve the mutton cubes and the prices were a rip off! For the same dishes, I paid 11.80 at the Signature but paid $18 here!

I forgot to take pictures as I was too excited abt having found this place. haha... well, I found many other indian food.. the whole stretch of race course road is FOOD GALORE!

There will be a next time i promise =)

Casuarina Prata - MT's late (night) birthday meal!

What's the correct word to describe the best prata in town?

>> CASUARINA!!!

haha!!! It's a 24 hrs joint at upper thomson, Casuarina road. The crisp and smell of the pratas never fail to divulge the secret glutton in all.

Well, it was a late BD celebration cum supper with WG and MT. We were at NUS, waiting for MT to end his class. Initially I had to attend class as well, however, I was caught up in a jam and only reached SIM after 8pm. So decided to skip class altogether and head to NUS with fio.

MT ended class at 9.30pm and he looked really tired. The drive to Casuarina took us abt 20 mins and surprisingly, there were empty lots at the far end of the carpark. I rushed to find seats as the place is crowded even at unearthly hours.

Between us, we had 2 cheese pratas, 2 plain, 1 plain thosai and a plate of delicious Nasi Ayam Goreng!

Simply Sedup!

My Cheesecake Experience

Yes yes yes!! more eating!!

But this time with a little personal touch. I made a lemon cheesecake!

What got me started was a baking blog recommended by Wangin. She was going to make a Strawberry marshmellow cake for MT's birthday. As usual, I didnt pay much attention to wat she said, instead, i surfed thru the blog to find a recipe to follow. Fio loves cheesecake, more so for the crumbs than the cake. Since she's away in Genting with her family, I thot i could spend some time baking a yummy cake for her. haha... So here are some pics!Baked at 150 degree Celsius for approximately 2 hours~

The end product! Smells really really good!!!

It looks good too! And it's my first attempt!

Well, i've always known I'm a genius!

Haha.. it's was not that great.. but it's not that bad either. More importantly, it tasted like cheesecake!

Malacca Trip with Mr Lee and Ms CLUB...=P

Been to Malacca a couple of times and yet each time there is always something new to experience.. Travelling with friends is a lot more fun, although the nagging responsibilities seem to lie heavily on my shoulders. Early in the morning, I had to check with WG and MT were up. I was over at Fio's place and her dad drove us to Little India station at abt 6am. Took the NEL to Kovan. We then proceeded to have our breakfast of beehoon at the Kovan market. We checked in and saw that WG and MT had arrived! Hurray.... as usual, I hurried them along to eat (knowing full well how many decades WG would take to conquer a bowl of noodle).

Board the bus at 7.45am and started our journey to Malacca.

 Time for a meal/toilet break.... we stopped at a food centre just after Yong Peng. This was the one that sold the best Beh Teh Sor! I bought 4 packs for RM30. Had a bowl of fishball kuay tiao before heading back on the the bus. As usual, the greedy WG bought a Ramly burger,after sharing her noodles with MT, to snack on the bus.

Upon reaching Melaka Sentral, we headed to purchase return tickets for next day's departure back to Singapore. Then without much ado, we proceeded to A&W for more eating. The food's not too bad, miss A&W too much to care much anyway. MT remarked that it was barely 12pm and we have eaten 3 meals already. =X oops.

Cab fare to Aldy hotel was RM15. Not too expensive based on exchange rate, it's abt $7 for 4 pax. Checked into the hotel, reserved beds, dumped all our stuff, used the toilet and then headed out to Mahkota shopping ctr.

While MT and WG were queueing up to get their movie tickets, we sneaked a shot of Ratatouille in action! haha..

 Well, so did they.

While they were at the movies, Fio & I hung explored the new Dataran Pahlawan Megamall. Prices were almost comparable to Singapore and hence we decided to stroll along Jonker Street instead. There, Fio bought a wooden Donald Duck figurine for RM60 (bargained from RM78). We also shared a meat dumpling (RM2.60). It was SOOOOOO good!!!! The meat was succulent and the rice was so fragrant and soft... the chilli complemented the taste too. Went back to the hotel a second time to dump our purchases.

Went to our designated meeting place(at Macdonald's) to meet WG and MT at 5.30pm. Malacca has a pretty popular tu chan shop..called "San Shu Gong". WG and MT bought a few items from there then we walked back to the hotel.

After some rest and relaxation, we walked to near Jonker Street to take a cab to BeiZhan. The highlight of the trip! Cost us RM12 for the 15 min long ride out.. and the driver wanted to scam us...he asked if we could exchange 100SGD for RM220 with him. Madness. What if he had given us counterfeit? Anyway, we've reached the restaurant and it seems as though nothing could ever spoil our moods then. Fio and I started ordering the familiar dishes, leaving WG to decide with the soup. haha... We were so hungry we couldnt wait too long! Take a look at the heavenly spread! So many things to eat... but we resisted temptation to dig in immediately and took time to take a few pics first!

Dinner was absolutely fabulous! Within minutes, the food was cleared.. though we had to "force" each other with the leftovers.. but there really wasn't much left.  Dinner cost abt RM110. Damn value for money rite!?!?!!!! and we had Cod fish too...

Headed next door to another tuchan shop... they had specialty mooncakes with the most quirky names like "Hao Yu Tou".. I bought the traditional kinds while WG bought the adventurous kind. haha.. It was pretty hard to get a cab.... virtually impossible.... so we had to walk down closer to town area.. hoping to flag a cab on the way.

It seemed like eternity before we spotted a cab! the driver agreed to take us for RM 10 to Jonker street. He was reluctant at first coz there was a jam leading to our destination. I suppose RM10 was a high price to him.

Jonker Street is Malacca's Chinatown. Peaceful in the day, bustling with activities at night.

  Fio bought earrings (5 for RM10), so did WG. There isnt much to buy unless you're into antiques, toys and mahjong!

We were deadbeat as we trudged back to the hotel to rest.

While Fio was in the bathroom, I was panicking.. there was no cake, no candles.. How to surprise her? Wg had a brilliant idea. use the Kueh Bahulu.. haha... Supposed to hide but i was abt to lower the tv volum when Fio opened the bathroom door. Wg hid under the tv console. That was a funny sight... Too bad I didnt snap a pic. in the end, we just wished her Happy Birthday and gave her a simple surprise.We played bridge will abt 2am with WG being the eventual winner.

Next day, there was packing to be done. We took turns to raid the bathroom and then climbed down the stairs for breakfast. Breakfast was very filling.. 3 of us had the Big Breakfast while Fio had Nasi Lemak set. Then we headed for Tong Hup to buy some household items at fairly low prices. The walk to Tong Hup was torturing..with the sun burning our backs and faces. Inside Tong Hup, there were shelves and shelves of dusty items. I got my floor detergent cheap. it was already 11.30am.. so we hurried back in the sun again... back to do our final packing.

 Took our luggage... walked in the sun once again to find a cab. When we finally reached Melaka Sentral, it was only 12.30pm. We still had another 2 more hours to waste. So what did we do? I guess it's obvious. We went to A&W again. I tried the fried chicken and onion rings. Still preferring the tender crispiness of Arnold's. Also ordered waffle to share.. it was pretty cheap. RM 6 for waffle plus 2 scoops of ice cream! We spent the next 2 hours gossiping, stoning, taking pictures, eating...and of coz crapping.

Finally, it was time to board the bus.

One of the very few successful attempts. Haha..=)

All in all,  we enjoyed the food in Malacca the most! Especially Bei Zhan. The stay in Aldy hotel was pleasant as usual and luckily, there were no hauntings. =X

BANG.... and my car is in the workshop.

Date: 15-08-2007             Time: 1940               Location: PIE near Paya Lebar Exit

Remember this date... I had my first car accident.

 You know i dun really wanna tok much abt it coz the more I divulge the more you'd think it's all my fault. Sure I could have avoided the situation completely if I had been more careful, IF I was able to read minds. First up, I was the "accused", I couldnt brake in time after realising the car in front has just jam brake! BAM! After getting down the car, I realised the car in front of me had bumped into the car into next car too. And guess what, both the drivers decided to claim against me. They accused me of being on my mobile phone, That I'm inexperienced... Crap. I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

If you notice, damage to the back of this SBU 9483X is nothing compared to the front. I hit the back but this car has hit the one in front of it, yet it is claiming against me, saying I caused his car to bang the one next car. Will anyone enlighten me if it is possible for a picanto to impact a Lancer as shown?

I was in confusion and almost petrified. My hands were cold and I was visibly shakened. I'm so glad my excess for insurance is $500 and not the initial $2,500 i was told. The only bruise I suffered was at my knee, my toe was also strained from braking to fast too hard, and my collar bone hurts.. most prob from the seat belt.

Hope there wont be a second time.

I'm so glad I'm me; Happy Birthday!

It's wonderful to know people actually remember your birthday. Not that I have many smses or phone calls, but just having people close to you making the effort to make me happy, I'm thankful. My parents gave me what I need like money and parking coupons.. =)

Last Friday, WG, MT and GW gave me wat I want, which is a delicious dinner and a PSP game. Must have cost them a bomb at Changing Appetite. The food's not too bad. Loved the Golden Blossoms. It's like fried onions in the shape of a flower.

Looks good rite? It tastes good too...all $7.50 of it.. =)

Here we are..Dwelling in foodie paradise...the mudpies are the only food left. We were so bloody full!!!! Felt i could roll around marina square like a bowling ball.

Here are more pics>>

26 year olds behaving like 16 year olds... sorry.. i think some of us are only 6 years old. haha..

Anyway, I was really quite tired after eating..my eyes couldnt really open.. Stayed over at Fio's. Then next day woke up early to go Tampines Polyclinic... my appt was at 10. but i only reach at 1030am. Depicting a typical polyclinic, there were queues everywhere..even queue to get queue number for registration.

 My sister treated us dinner at the fishing pond. Ordered assam fish head, some vege and pork dishes, totalling up to $75. it was not expensive as there were 8 of us. I overate once again. =P We played mj and I was the biggest loser! I lose all of $5. hehe...

Sunday was a relaxing day... Woke up at 7 plus.. brought the dogs down for their walk and then went to market with my parents & william. Bought some fishballs to Fio's hse. Fio had been ironing since 9am while waiting for us. WB and Viv finally arrived at 12.30pm.. Late as usual. Played 3 rounds of Mj and I lost $10. Viv lost $16. Fio's cousin won $18 and that WB won $8. it was quite a balanced game.. if we stopped at round 2, i would have won close to $20.

Had zi char for dinner before cousin Patrick left for Genting. =) Stayed over for the night.

Today is my birthday. The actual day, but my frens and family have made me felt like I've had my birthday for the whole weekend. Even today, my colleagues bought a cake (during office hours coz I let out it was my bday!) haha...We had a mini celebration in our pantry. Although i'm not particularly close to them, they still bothered to do sth.. it wasnt great. but it's still something.

Dinner plans are in place. Soup restaurant with my one and only... =) Picking her up at Khatib before heading to Causeway Point later... 

Happy Birthday to me. Thank you to all who made my life a little brighter.

*Gracias & Adios* 

Getting Married is such a chore; A Blissful Chore. (ABC?)

The bee is getting ready for marriage.. and i mean only the choosing part.

No..

Not choosing the partner,i meant THE GOWN!! choosing the wedding gown is such a chore.. If it's not too loud, it's too plain, if it's not too lacy, it's too beady.. IF it's not too white, it's gaudy, if it's not too pretty.... eh.. we'll never find one that's too pretty, will we? =)

Spend yesterday researching all kinds of wedding gowns. Was kinda bored in office too. Took my laptop to WG's hse and started "discussing" which suits her best. I thot I found a perfect gown for her, but the picture alone is not enough to convince her. The cutting is clean and angelic. More like an angel than a princess. But as Fio commented, i guess all brides prefer to be princesses. So WG kinda selected a Disney princess inspired wedding gown. It's found in the last issue of Urban. (correction: not last issue, wasted my time searching for it. it's April issue. damn.)

Anyway, here are the gowns;the princess and the angel.

Anyway, I'm supposed to meet Steve and Chin Soon for dinner at bedok blk 85 today. Needless to say, CS couldnt make it. I reckon he's just too busy to have a life. Poor guy. So off to Fio's hse for another nite of delicious sinful CNY dinner. (Her mum usually cooks so many dishes, u'd be reminded of CNY)

Settlers of Catan...my virgin attempt - Donald

Last friday WG bought the game...we were on our way to Casuarina Prata that day..Thanks for the treat! haha... Anyway, I played the game for the first time on tues. Seems like an easy game to play, yet when the rules are laid, winning seems further than expected. It's a tad tricky with no guaranteed strategy as the map of  the game changes with each game play.

Nonetheless, I won my first round. Lucky placement. Well, subsequent rounds I fell quite behind though. Anyway, Revenge is near as we're playing again tomorrow! This time with Joyce and GW.

Good luck guys... you'll need it.

Day 7 Back to Singapore...place where the heat energy doesnt seem to move..

22nd June 2007

Checked out of the hotel and waited at the lobby for the other tour members to come down. We didnt wan to waste any time, hence at 9.15am we waited no more and told Joey we will go ahead first. We were all going to Paddy's market and we have become familiar with the route anyway. (We have to pass Paddy's market to go Chinatown)

Took this pic of the entrance of Paddy's market.

We had abt 3 hours to shop.. Paddy's market on the ground floor, and shops on 2nd and 3rd floors. Bought more souvenirs... things here are comparatively cheaper than Queen Vic Market. For example, This koala "Baby on board" car sign was A$4.90 in Melbourne. But I got it for only A$2 here! and i bought 3 items, it'd be A$5. Cheap eh?? hehe..

 Found Mambo again in the upper floors.. the additional 40% off was more than enough for Fio.. she took over the changing rooms and got lost in the sea of bargains. You see in Australia, we can try on the sale items..not like in Singapore. This makes more sense rite?

My next good bargain was out of Paddy's market... on our way back to the hotel, I bought cherries. Remember we saw cherries at Queen Vic Market? A$20/kg.

Now I only pay A$13/kg! I bought 1 kg... haha...

Then it was our last bus journey in Australia..Time to return to Singapore. The view from the departure lounge. Qantas, the Australian emblem against Sydney skyline.

 I'll miss Australia.. the people, the lifestyle, the weather...

QF 5

Reached Singapore at 10pm.. hot and humid once again.

Day 6 Sydney...Featherdale, Blue Mountains and Shopping!!

21st June 2007

It was bright and early... We headed for Featherdale Wildlife Park. The weather was cooling and I was glad I brought along all my warm clothing. We were greeted by a joey! (Our tour guide had the same name) Entering the park, we could feel the cool breeze.. someone asked if the aircon was turned on. Hehe... It was natural aircon. We wandered in the park, there were red kangaroos, the greys, and even white ones. An emu walked in the midst of the kangaroos... its fierce looking eyes scared away most pple and we were less inclined to feed it.

 Though the park had only native animals like the wombats, kangaroos, emu and dingos.. it was still refreshing that the air was cool and fresh even amidst the animals. There was a pretty white peacock which stood on top of a roof. We also took pictures with koalas... We were not allowed to carry Koalas in all parts of Australia except in Gold Coast.. (which I did carry when I went 13 years ago.) Afte signing of the guestbook, we headed for Blue Mountains.

Driving up the mountain road, we could see the glorious scenery. The landscape was beautiful. I couldnt wait to get there!

At the Blue Mountains viewing balcony, the view was just breath taking!

Here are some pictures of Three Sisters and the Blue Mountains.

It was very cold... strong winds added to Felicia's discomfort. She was turning paler than ever before. Hurried up the bus as we proceeded to find a chinese( again!) restaurant for lunch.

Then after lunch, the bus driver took us to Scenic World where we could take the cable car, tram ride or the Skyway... but at our own expense. Noone wanted to spend more so we ended hanging around in the souvenir shop there. We also took pictures with the statues (of the father turning the 3 sisters into mountains).

Homebush Direct Factory Outlet was next on the list.... on the way there, we stopover at the Olympic Park fo a pee. The grounds were colossal... almost limitless... This stadium is only a tiny part of the Olympic park. The park was so huge, I couldnt take a proper picture of another structure without walking away from the area. Hence, there was no other picture. =X haha...

Finally it's shopping time! I spotted multiple rainbows in the sky! My first multiple rainbow vision! You must have a look too..You can see 2 of the rainbows here... one clearer than the other.

I wanted to buy a pair of Timberland Boots.. A$120.. ard there..but decided to have a think about it first. We walked on... (only 1 hour and a half to shop!) Popped in and out of shops.. Finally we stayed the longest in Mambo! I bought 2 tees @ A$9.95 each! Fio bought about 4 pieces, skirts and tees... additional 40% of ladies wear. so our total bill came up to abt 70 bucks only. That's cheap compared to the prices in Singapore where 1 Mambo tee costs about S$50.

The rest of the shops werent that cheap and when we arrived at the meeting point, everyone was there already. Joey asked if we were bored and if we bought anything. We said not enough time! She was surprised as apparently, the others were bored. I guess either they didnt enter Mambo, or they were just too old for Mambo. haha.. =X

Back to Chinatown for dinner... I bought my nougats and we went shopping for souvenirs for fio's ex-colleagues. On the way back, we explore an underground pass. There was a bookstore and prices were real low. Bought a book to read.. and then it was time to head back to the hotel.

Day 5 Sydney...Destination: Land & Sea

20th June 2007

Our morning call was at 6am.. We had a plane to catch today at 9.30am.  As we woke up early, we had time for a pose.

 Saying good bye to Melbourne as we sit and wait at the domestic airport.We were all very eager to experience Sydney as we've heard the difference between Melbourne and Sydney.

Our first destination is the Sydney Fish Market. AWESOME!! Glorious fresh seafood awaits me... haha... We ordered 3 sets of fish and chips, 1 set of grilled salmon and chips and I had the calamari without chips. Glad i didnt order chips... there were so much chips we couldnt finish half. The fish was yummy. the Calamari scrumptious! I couldnt help myself I took out the chilli sauce i brought from Singapore. haha.... saved some money. Sauces were sold at 30 cents a packet. There were fresh oysters too... I asked Fio's dad if he wanted to eat.. he declined. I was disappointed.. coz they were selling a dozen for A$13.50. I couldnt finish that many. But I couldnt give up.. I could literally hear the oysters calling me. I went to look around and bought half a dozen for A$8.50. Slightly more expensive, but nonetheless, delightful.

 Tempted Fio's dad again... still he refused. Denying these succulent oysters entrance to his gut. So down my throat they went... smooth and tasty!

Of coz there are other restaurants at the fish market. All looked equally distinguished and delicious.See the vast variety of seafood. of coz things are not cheap here. Christie's (the one we ate at) sold breaded shrimps at A$2 each! Swindlers!

 Outside the fish market was a wharf. The fishermen docked their boats here.. look at the bridge in the background.. that's the largest expressway on a bridge..

 Then we headed to Sydney Aquarium. Chris( bus driver for the day) told us not to expect too much..and that it might not be comparable to our Underwater World. Boy, Was he wrong!

The Sydney Aquarium holds an area of abt 6 to 7 times larger than our Underwater World. It situates upon the bank. This aquarium was actually a ship! See...we had to walk down these ramps to go to the underwater gallery. There were seal gallery as well as sharks and rays gallery. Besides those, there are other exhibits like platypus, lobsters, touch pools and a huge tank!

 Before proceeding to take the Harbour Cruise, we stopped over across the Sydney Opera House for a snapshot.

 Though we didn't get to visit the Opera House, its exterior was fascinating, definitely more charming than our Esplanade. I have no idea how pple can come up with the name 'Esplanade' when it does not resemble one at all.

On to the Harbour Cruise.... There was a long queue and we were at the back. There were China men and women doing what they do best, pushing and shoving. We were peeved and Fio said aloud, "Let these people go first. The CW keep pushing me." The CW (the one in our tour group) heard and said "there's no such thing as being first or last. Just board." Feel like slapping her but that would only dirty my hands.

Finally boarded the ship.. the top deck was full already, so we settled for the second deck. Though it was open air like the top deck, we had the same great views and quieter surroundings. We had a free cup of tea or coffee each plus a pack of biscuits.

The Sydney Opera House next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge... 2 world class attractions in a juxtaposition.

After some 40 mins of boring cruising, the Sydney Tower + Oztrek was something to look forward to. The Oztrek was a simulated ride where we go around Australia virtually. It was fun. The CW and her mum stopped the ride within 10 sec of the ride..saying their seats do not move. The person in charge then told them their seats had a sign that said "Out of Order". Hahaha!!! It always has to be them. They were so hasty to find a seat that they didn't even see the sign. Really like bulls in a china shop. Just charge only.

The Sydney Tower is the second tallest building in Australia. it's 309 m and from the observation deck, we can see 85 km far.

Isn't it a wonder?

 It was challenging to take a clear photo esp with the night sky. I looked like a ghost in the next pic. haha..At least can still see me lah.. hee...

Finally we check in to our hotel, Mercure Sydney. Then proceeded to Chinatown for dinner.

 Found this souvenir shop..They were selling nougats at A$23/kg! I bore that in mind and decided to come here again tomorrow to buy if I dun see better offers. Fio's parents bought it anyway. Then we strolled back to our hotel room. This hotel was better than the Melbourne one. The room was more luxurious.Loved the furnishing and the size of the beds!

Oh well... it was a long day and we were dead beat. *Snores*

Day 4 Melbourne...Free day = Shopping Day

19th June 2007

First thing in the morning... I wrote the postcard to mum and all. Then headed down for breakfast again. Oh...forgot to mention something else.. for the past 2 days, Daniel and CW had been "taking" 5 to 6 hard boiled eggs each on our day trips for snacking on. Daniel started it and gradually that 2 began a "take away buffet spree". I've heard the things they took included apples, banana, bread, eggs and orange juice.

Yes... they refill their waterbottles with orange juice from the beakfast buffet! How can anyone top that?

After breakfast, we went to buy daily tickets for all day transportation - trams, train and buses. A$6.30 only. Here I am standing at a tram stop in front of Flinders Street train station, frightening the birds away.

Here's the interior view of the tram.There was a ticket machine in the tram as well. The trams run on electricity and they travel straight only. Means no turning at all.

Back at Queen Vic Market. This time we discovered they had an actual market..like the kind of wet market found in Singapore.. but it's much cleaner and drier there!All the fresh meat and seafood are kept cold and enclosed. As you can see in the pic, the fibreglass counters are very much like what our pork sellers recently made compulsory to keep their pork in. Besides the raw food, they have dry products too. That's in the next section. There was a bread shop, ham and sausage shop, cheese shop, spices and beans shop. In another section, there were also vegetables and fruit sellers. Cherries sold at A$20 per kg. Carrots and brocolli looked very fresh indeed. Maybe it's psychological but somehow the veggie looked better in Australia! haha....

Past the food section is the souvenir section. Most shoppers here are tourists as compared to the food section, for obvious reasons. See the variety of items they sell? From table cloths, plates, clocks to shot glasses, boomerangs and rainmakers.

Queen Vic market closes at 2pm on Tuesdays.. early eh? We then took the tram back and changed to the train. At first Fio and her mum were resistant to that idea.. they were afraid we would get lost. After much assurance from her dad, we headed for Flinders Street station. There were many zones and I cant remember which one we took. We sat in the train for about 20 mins i think.. and alighted at Camberwell Station.

We took some pictures then went back to take the returning train back to Flinders Street Station. Then we took the tram again, this time not stopping at Queen Vic, the ride went on and on... Long after, we alighted at this place where they had many darker skinned people. I reckon they are from middle east. Found a supermaket, Cole's, but it was much cheaper then the one in Flinders Street. Walked along the street, saw some confectionary shops... delicious looking cakes they have there... Didn't buy anything though.. it was mostly sight seeing.

We had dinner at South bank again.. but I wasnt hungry. so shared pasta with fio. In the end I had a bit of everything.. coz Fio's sis, Felicia, couldnt finish her hor fun and fried rice (given by Fio's dad). Then we went to the casino again.. fio and felicia went shopping.. they found a Warner Bros shop. Crown entertainment centre was quite an enjoyable place to shop.

At abt 8pm..we were back in our rooms. and I was a little hungry. Fio had already changed to sleep clothes so I went out alone to buy some food. I wore 3/4 pants and shoes without my socks. It was really cold. In the end, i bought some fries plus belgian dip @ $5. It was such a huge portion, we had this much left.

 Then it was time to hit the sack. 

Day 3 Melbourne - Puffing Billy, Smelly cows and Whole lot of Penguins!

18th June 2007

Had breakfast at the hotel buffet. Food was alrite... Ham, cheese, bread, porridge, cereals, miso soup and fruits.. the usual... nothing outstanding here. Joey warned us that it was going to be freezing cold at Philip Island and reminded us to bring all our warm clothing...

 On the way to Puffing Billy...

Finally we reached Belgrave station for our Puffing Bily train ride. It was cold... When we spoke, there were mist coming out from our mouths...  And there we were behaving like retards.. kept blowing out air..with our mouths in an "O" shape!

In the steam train at last... See the china woman in the back ground? The one with white mask on, apparently too ashamed to be photographed. haha! Unfortunately, she's the most troublesome woman I've come to known. Will reveal her ways in later blogs.

Next stop, Warrook cattle farm... Had our lunch of either steak or chicken. I had a combination of both! Yummy.We had the chance to feed lambs & calves and also milk cows. We also watched a sheep shearing and rounding up demonstration. We moved around the farm in a haystack lorry where we sat on hay instead of the usual seats. There were also many kangaroos free ranging at the farm.

We bought kangaroo feed at $1 each. most kangaroos were already full as there were so many tourists.. Then we found a gray one sitting here the entrance. It was still hungry! =) Its fur was so soft and there was no bad smell at all. When I wanted to stand up, this kangaroo stopped me by holding my forearm! It didn't wan me to leave.. of coz i noe it's for the food... but it was a very special experience.See the kangaroo's forelegs!! you'll have to view it carefully to notice this.

After all the feeding and flirting with the kangaroos, we were back on the roads..heading for Philip Island! See Fio...all prepared and geared up.

 As we drove along the deserted road to see the world's smallest penguins, I captured some scenic views.

Wont you agree the views are just fantastic? Once we got down the bus... we could feel the dip in temperature. Probably abt 5 to 6 degrees. Took some pictures in the complex. And as usual, no photography was allowed once at the beach.

Bought mum a birthday postcard and stamps from the gift shop. Oh yah... we took a penguin photo too.. posed with penguins.. with digital magic of course. We went out to wait for the penguins to march up. This was the first time i was in full gear. I had my thermal wear, long sleeve tee shirt, sweater, wind breaker, gloves and beanie on! It was about 3 degrees and the wind was so strong... (wind was blowing from the Antartica) It was freezing cold. As darkness took over, the little penguins start to appear! They looked very adorable..gathering in groups of 5 to 20.. They had to walk up the mountains to their nest. Our tour guide Joey said some will cross the carpark to get to their homes. So if we drive, we have to look under our cars first.

Dinner time!!! Tonight we had lobster dinner. Each of us had half a lobster. I forgot to mention we had a very irritating man in our group. Daniel was an arrogant loud mouthed cheapo ass of a man. And I will tell you why. Both Daniel and that China woman (CW) complained about the food. Said the lobster was a baby lobster, and yest we had dimsum for lunch, the CW was not happy.. they ordered shark's fin instead! CW also complained to Daniel that how can dim sum be served for lunch... he agreed.. so on and so forth. We, on the other hand, were quite happy with the food. It was not fantastic, but it was acceptable.

Would you believe Daniel held a 2 hours record for talking non stop? He didnt have a chance to extend his lead as our bus journey back to Melbourne City was 2 hours. Even the driver, David, commented that he was worse than a woman.

Back at hotel.. time to rest. =)

Day 2 Melbourne...Church, Cottage & Camels

17th June 2007

Touched down Melbourne Airport... and straight away they brought us to have breakfast @ Hungry Jacks and then our city tour began. Our bus driver, David, was friendly and loved to make fun of the children. He was also part tour guide. I guess in Australia, the bus drivers do not merely drive, they are an integral part of the tourism industry as well, as they also explain the history of more famous buildings and the culture in Melbourne as we drove along.

First Stop, St Francis Cathedral.

 Walked thru the church with pple having quiet time and praying... They had beautiful sculptures of holy images. The interior kinda reminded me of our very own St Andrew's Cathedral. Too bad we werent allowed to take pictures in there.

We took some pictures outside the church. The back yard was neatly designed with flowering plants and water features.

 See the fantastic colour of the leaves... makes one feels like it's christmas.. The air was fresh and cool.  I never wanna come back to Singapore! Of coz that's just wishful thinking on my part.

Next we went to Fitzroy Gardens... where Captain Cook's Cottage is.. This was the actual cottage he lived in back in England.. They dismantled the cottage, shipped to Australia and rebuilt it brick by brick.

There were fallen leaves all over the ground... maple leaves.. pretty rite? I picked one up to keep... not sure where is it now.. =X haha....

Then David brought us to this souvenir shop. He said things are much cheaper here than the Queen Victoria Market. (Cheaper by at least $2) So we bought.. and we bought... and bought even more... i got 1 kg of nougats. (half crunchy, half chewy). Fio's parents bought many magnets, key chains and i believe 2 or 3 kg of nougats! Our total bill came up to $314 of which only $70plus was mine.

 Next we proceeded to Queen Victoria Market. woah... there were over 1000 stalls here!

 First of all there were camel rides. Can you believe the camels smelt like the fish I had for dinner?

NO... camels are definitely not nice smelling creatures... It's the airplane food that smelt bad! really bad!!

There were rows and rows of stalls, selling from toys, to tee shirts and souvenirs... even pet food & toys! And we chanced upon this particular stall that sold magnets @ 5 for A$10!!! We felt so cheated. At the supposedly cheaper shop, we had bought the very same magnets for A$5.90 a piece! I was lucky.. I only bought 1. Fio's parents bought abt 15! With the same amount of money, they could have gotten forty over magnets!

After that, we cross over and walked along the shops opposite. nothing much though...and we took a picture.

Then it was time to head back to our hotel... Rendezvous Hotel. It's just along the Yarra River, opposite South Bank. We havent had a single ounce of rest since we boarded the plane, and most of us were dead tired. Still, all of them less Fio's parents still found the energy to continue exploring Melbourne. They followed the tour guide out after checking in, while Fio's parents and sister had their beauty sleep at 3pm. Fio and I did some exploring on our own...

We found the GPO (General Post Office). It's now an upscale shopping mall and we basically had nothing of interest there besides Campers. Walked along Bourke Street, saw Myers' department store, Royal Arcade and other retail shophouses...The exploring was fun, but we were so tired we headed back to sleep. We only managed to sleep for 20 mins..coz it was time to meet her parents for dinner! 5pm.

We had dinner at South Bank. I tried the Indian food! yummy.... $7.90 for rice and 2 types of dishes. Portions were huge and so were the prices. Seafood fried rice was A$13.90. After that, went to explore the Crown Casino...din play though... and then headed back to our hotel beds for a good night's rest. 

Day 1 Changi International Airport - Donald

16th June 2007

It was a rainy morning... and my parents, Uncle William and I were headed for Siglap's kuay chap. It was supposedly an early Father's Day treat. The meal however, was quite horrible. quite the worst I've ever tried. Somehow i think i was the problem. This was supposed to be one of the best, yet it's the first time i tried and even my parents commented the drop in standard.

Anyway, I went home after that and did a last minute check on my backpack..(since my luggage was already at Fio's Hse). My dad sent me to Fio's hse at 2pm. And they had 3 luggages plus my gigantic one.. also, not forgetting 3 other hand carry bags. totalling to 7 pieces. HAHA... we were like going to stay in Australia for a month or so.

Took a picture before departing.

Then at 4.30pm, our mini-bus driver arrived and we lugged along all our baggages and loaded into the bus. Our check in time was 5.45pm.. As we were early, we headed to have dinner or rather, i very later lunch. i didn't eat coz I already had my lunch at 2pm with my dad. The food at Eatz was so damn expensive. Total rip off.

Finally saw our tour guide, Joey, who told us where to meet later for boarding. We checked in our luggage and  proceeded to the departure area.. Waved to my mum and Atrina....

 Took a pic at the departure lounge... walked ard and fio's parents bought her a very expensive item! A $1019.05 Gucci bag... which Wangin thought was the paper bag. =X

We boarded the plane and had a gruelling 7 hr journey! Didn't really sleep the entire time and Fio's dad had to tolerate some annoying Chinese pple who were sitting beside him. and guess what? They were in our tour group too. =(

Anticipation.... - Donald

Minutes seems like hours. The clock appears to be stuck at 5.59pm. Cant wait to go off!

Well, who can blame me? We'll be heading to Melbourne tml and right now, all i can think about is all Australian.

It's finally 6pm! Time to go off. will update you abt my trip downunder!

~~~Departing 16 Jun 2007, QF 10, 1945.~~~

Ocean Movie Marathon~~~~~ - Donald

8th June 2007.

7pm. Our first movie marathon. Ocean's 11, 12 and 13.

it's 3.30pm now and i'll be going down to get food for later. Getting egg tarts and sugar rolls for Daisy. i'll most prob get myself some bread. and of coz, some bottled mineral water. GV's selling water for $2.50. wat a rip off!

                       ----------- Movie screening-------------

 All 3 movies were great.. though by the 3rd one, my eyelids were heavy and had to keep away by drinking water and munching on salted popcorn. At first we thot the free flow of popcorn and coke will be given in the cinema.. so we din have any popcorn, instead we munched on our own stash of goodies. Then  after the first movie ended, we rushed to the toilets and then head to the food and beverage counter for our free snacks! Did the same after the second movie as well. I smuggled popcorn home! coz i brought plastic bags to fill the popcorn!

haha.. cheapo eh. Left the stash at Daisy's place. So none for the Bee. =X

Ended at 2am. Took a cab back to Daisy's place and slept till abt 10 in the morning! Went out to buy lunch and then set up the MJ table. Well, it was one of the rare days where i won (and won the most). But only 11 bucks to be exact. We played 4 rounds in all.

Back from Genting - Donald

Lost.

no... not that TV show. i lost money in Genting. I mean who wins money there? i know of at least a hundred who lost but only 2 F*cking Winners.

oops. guess who?

That's right. Genting Casino and.......Daisy's dad... we went there 4 times and he has won 3 times!! and it's by the thousands!! This time he won about RM2900. wow... in fact, he did win more but lost abt 1k back to the casino.

Anyway, it was quite a boring trip, given that we spent 4 days taking care of Felicia and giving in to her wants and what not. Meals were pretty much provided and Daisy's dad paid for with his winnings. it's kinda free in a way. =) So all in all I didn't spend very much.

Anyway, today is Daisy's first day at work and already she has to attend a meeting with client (NTUC) with her boss. Hope all goes well. =)