LiZ_in_Oz!!

simple happy life

2011-04-24T01:09:00.001-07:00

it's alwaz a bonus if u can make it up the corporate ladder; or if you could own that dream R8; or if you could add on a balenciaga bag to ur collection.... but what i really wish for is a simple happie life... to wake up and look forward to everyday in the morning... to be able to take an evening stroll with ur loved one.... to live life to the fullest with no regrets, no looking back and feeling nostalgic....

continue moving forward, time waits for no man, n rem to keep the smile on ur pretty face =)

A special fren

2010-12-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

To a very special fren... a fren whom i know since 20.... that's a long long time ago..... still remember the good old days... the days when i only had 100 free sms n being a poor student i selectively replied msges.... sorrie for those days when i m "dao" n never reply smses... thank you for being so patient with me.... thank you for being there for me.... thank you for all the nice surprises.... all these years.... u have been with mi thru ups n downs.... alwaz ever ready to lend me ur listening ears.... from "ABC" days to present..... that's a long long time.... a very special frenship we shared.... am happy for u today... though it felt a bit strange... wishing u happiness =)

headaches

2010-08-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

alwaz getting headaches nowadaes... my head feels like bursting... i jus wanna lie down and not do anything... there's tonnes of things waiting for mi to clear... but i realli jus dun feel like doing anything... back to those days when i would take medicine to feel drowsy n sleep.... i m wasting my life away.... i hate wat i m doing to myself... why m i so emo!!!!! i need to get out of this viscious cycle.... jus walk away from everything n jus be like b4..... i cant do it... i dunno why.... i m tired.... miss my carefree days... everything i m today is jus a result of my choice.... the path u have chosen in the past will lead u to where u are today... i hope u are happier now... i do wonder how things would have turned out if i made the choice to stay back then....

nostalgic~~

2010-08-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

ppl do get more nostalgic as they age... thanks for reading my blog... thanks for being around for mi all these years... things ard mi, people ard mi... all these which i didnt appreciate when i was younger.... back in those good old days when i take things and people for granted... i realised that i m not the only one who likes to write when i m feeling emo... i dun like feeling emo... i miss the old mi... the old mi who doesnt feel emo that often... it's age i believe... or mebbe it's simply cos i have changed... i simply wish i could turn back times... back to the old schooling days when i dont have to bother about anything in the world... tends to feel emotional so easily nowadaes... jus heard from my favourite jnr that she has decided to resign... or rather she has already resigned... suddenly felt so sad... firstly, i dun deny she was of such a great help that i will definitely work much harder without her around... but secondly, i realli dun like the feeling of ppl ard mi leaving... but in the environment that i work in, it's inevitable that ppl come n go... although i have left sg as well... but it feels different when u r the one staying put at the same spot n it's u who's being left behind.... sometimes i realli dunno what i m doing... my tots are so random... sometimes jus wanna work somewhr in which nobody leaves the company... everything is the same day in day out.... symptoms of ageing??? when u dun wanna change in ur life.... i dun like being swayed my emotions... i like to be free from them all... emotional detachment... something that everyone else doesnt believe in... but it's sth that i've alwaz wanted to be... roller coaster feelings is what i alwaz experience nowadaes.. .but it's precisely what i dun need... and wat i dun want....

sorrie

2010-07-25T02:38:00.001-07:00

if u are still reading my blog, i m sorrie....

krabi day 3 - island safari

2010-07-25T02:16:00.001-07:00

day 3 was pretty relaxing as well... i didnt get a chance to do my bungee jump again!!! anw day 3 was spent rafting and elephant riding at island safari....

our pix taken after the rafting... no chance to take pix during rafting...

our elephant riding... the tour guide helped us to take a series of pix and charged us $200THB!!! but the thing is that out of 20 pix he took, mebbe only 4 or 5 of them are clear... see below for the "blur" pix....

and besides elephant riding, they have ox-cart as well... and similarly the "driver" offered to take pix for us... this time round, being smarter, we kindly rejected his offer.... no free lunches in the world!!!

and after the rides, there were some elephant shows...

us with the baby elephant... somehow i jus like elephants.... my fav cartoon would be dumbo.... can relate to the big flappy ears?!?!

krabi day 2 - island hopping

2010-07-18T01:50:00.000-07:00

day 2 was for island hopping around the HONG island... given that it's less crowded and less touristy, it feels like a private jet bringing us ard....

view from the jet boat...

as usual, the star jump pix at beaches is a must....

i like this shot a lot...

krabi day 2 - rock climbing

2010-07-15T05:21:00.000-07:00

our first activity for the trip was rock climbing... making our way to the jetty to take the long tail boat to railay beach for rock climbing... here's our "tour guide" - the rock climbing expert.... he's the one carrying all our equipment as well.... see the guy loaded with so many bags... that's him with the full equipment for the 5 "participants".....

here's our mode of transport to railay beach...

the long tail of the boat..... that's how it got its name.....

at railay beach... we must make our way thru the slippery, muddy beach cos it's low tide when we arrive....

finally it's the start of the activity... listening attentively to instructions....gin looks confused though....

mi posing with the guide.....
my turn to climb....

slowly making my way up.....

finally at the TOPPPPPP!!!!! it was hard work!!!!

slowly abseiling down..... this is the most relax and enjoyable part.....

exhausated after the climb... i conquered three 10m wall and one 20m wall....=)

n besides the photos and the aching muscles, here's wat we've got as "souvenirs" from the rock-climbing.... ouch ouch!!

after an exhausting day of being "spider women", it's time to chill and relax.... we went to this mexican pub for the WORLD CUP FINALS - holland vs spain....

n my prediction was right once again!!!! SPAIN won.... n i won this shirt from "guessing the winning team" lucky draw from the pub.... wohoooo!!!!
see the before and after.... the whole big group of holland fans in the pub.... see the same pix below after the match ended....

and this marks the end of our long day...

Krabi - 10 July 2010 to 14 july 2010

2010-07-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

after 9 months of hard work, it's finally my turn to go on leave.... was looking forward to a break which i desperately need.... so here's some photos of the trip....

entering the boarding gates with slpy eyes!!! the flight's at 640AM... so woke up at 4plus with barely 2 hours of slp.....cant wait to slp on the plane...

our tiger flight to krabi.... i like this pix!!

on our way to the hotel....

presenting PAKASAI.... our hotel for the 4 nights.....

the lobby while waiting for check-in....

our hotel room with the kinkish shower facilities.... if u look carefully, u will realise there is no door to the washroom... see the translucent shower on the top left side of the pix... that's the shower... n dunno whether they are cutting cost or wat, the shower and toilet shares 1 door!!! so either u shower or u use toilet.... funnie design right??? and check out the outdoor bathtub in the pix below....

the sceneries along ao nang beach.....

ageing

2010-07-06T08:55:00.001-07:00

ageing.... growing up.... do u actually feel more as u age... or is it vice versa.... sometimes i realli wonder if i am really emotionally detached... as i alwaz tot i m... and that's wat some of my frens tell mi.... was watching a korean drama over the weekend and saw how filled with emotions the characters are.... it might be a show.... but in reality, i believe there are ppl who are realli like that.... ppl who do feel deeply for things, for the people ard them, for watever that's happening ard them.... but somehow i feel that i've stopped having such emotions..... i m trying to recall when's the last time i realli feel such strongly..... i m not saying i dun feel happie or sad etc.... but somehow, my emotions are not so strong..... perhaps i m realli "cold-blooded"?? i realli dunno... or mebbe it's jus age... as u age, u see more things.... and probably that's the reason why u get immune to stories ppl tell u, stories that's happening in ur life.... it's sad.... a sad realisation that i dun feel animore.... i complain when i have to work long hours.... but when i can knock off early, i suddenli feel lost..... yup, i can alwaz hang out with frens, go shopping, go for early dinner and catch a movie.... but somehow, it's jus processes that i m going thru... it feels very different from memories... memories that i will hold on to.... experiences that i will remember.... it seems like those good old days in school which will have memories and experiences for mi to hold on to..... the last nice memory that i have was probably the phuket trip... thanks for the happy memories... and sorrie......

Missing

2010-02-21T03:36:00.000-08:00

i miss the days in australia... miss the days where i used to be more carefree... miss the days where i dont have any headaches.... miss the days where i have roadtrip photos to post on my blog.... but being back for only half a year, it's like a total change in personality n lifestyle... wkends were spent either in office or at home... n i feel so tired all the times... once, a fren asked mi what do i do during wkends or wat's my hobbies... den it suddenli struck mi that my life is so monotonous.... if i m not wkg on wkends, i would be slping in.... dun even have the mood to go out with frens and enjoy the wkend..... dunno why oso... but i used to think that i have to go out everi wkend.... hated to stay at home during wkends in the past.... mebbe it's age... mebbe it's work.... mebbe i m tired of everithing.... i cant seem to have the mood to go out animore... jus wish i could lie down and slp forever... dun wanna think abt anithing... dun wanna be with anione.... jus give mi a small corner n i'll be happie staying there.... i wonder why the drastic change.... used to love gg out n hanging out till late with frens.... now i jus wish to stay in bed n read my novels.... never expect myself to be such a homely person... i guess i have changed... wat caused the change? probabli a lot of factors.... but i jus feel so tired... wish things were simplier... wish i was back in aussie.... but even back in aussie, sometimes i will feel tempermental..... so mebbe it's age?? i dunno... i jus noe i need a break.... a break from everithing n everione.... decisions u make in life 5 years ago will ome back to haunt u 5 years later.... sometimes i wish i could turn back time n make a chance to choose again.... things tt i didnt appreciate back then.... now i wonder how things will be like if i took a different route back then.... but it's too late now.... there's no turning point, so i have to move on..... looking back n feeling nostalgic will only make things worst..... u onli get to live once.... so jus give things a go.... if u think too much, u will jus regret it in future..... i m sorry..... i m tired....

US trip

2009-11-14T04:19:00.000-08:00

a little update of wat i've been up to before i started work back in sg.... had a longer 2 months break, out of which 1 month was spent in canada n the states.... did a road trip across US from the west coast to the east coast... was indeed quite an experience -- never would have tot that it was possible to drive across the massive land... but yup, i did it!! of course, it was together with my frens who were much better with directions n map reading skills.... hehehe... my only contribution during the trip was that i was one of the 2 drivers.... n during this trip, realised how lousy i m with directions n map reading....

anw here's an outline of the road trip n some pictures.....

i m back~~

2009-08-31T17:02:00.000-07:00

i m back in singapore... jus realised that some things in life will never change... one can never be prepared... even if u think u are... n at the end the outcome will still be the same...

blue mts - wentworth falls

2009-06-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

this is a super outdated post... at least by the standard posting rates for this year.. hehe.. much more efficient this year as compared to the last... avg 3 months delay last year.. hahah... so here are some photos of the wentworth falls in the blue mountains area....

the nice autumn feel in the blue mts area.... on our way to the wentworth falls... we jus randomli stopped by to take some photos....

the jamison valley....

Upper Wentworth Falls, the first section of Wentworth Falls waterfalls near the town of the same name... The falls are in two drops, with Lower Wentworth Falls below....

took the under-rock path to wentworth falls...was quite a bit of walk... n the fact that it was drizzling n muddy didnt help much....

the fletcher point lookout.....

my favourite waterfall....

an ice-cream treat after we finised the walk!!

sydney skyline at night

2009-05-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

my favourite spot for the nice sydney skyline and sydney opera house... mrs macquarie chair... a wonderful spot for avid photographers.... simpy beautiful views from the "chair".....

the city skyline....

opera house and harbour bridge....

trip to the art musuem

2009-05-24T05:20:00.000-07:00

i've alwaz drive past or walk past the NSW art gallery.... and everitime i past it, i will be telling myself that i wanna go in one day.... and after almost close to 2 years in sydney, i finalli made my first trip there....

the entrance of the art gallery of new south wales....

finalli a nice picture after many failed attempts of getting both xiji n mi in the picture....

the first exhibit i saw... an overturn car...

some artistic display??? dun realli noe wat this is... but nice layout nevertheless... hehe...

oppsssiieee... one of the statute fell and smashed his head.... this is one of my favourite art piece....

reflections... the focus is actualli the painting in the reflection.....

this is not an art piece... saw a full arch of rainbow while touring the art gallery... but too bad cant get the whole arch in....

Easter Long Weekend

2009-05-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

easter was spent in the eastern part of Oz.... goldcoast, brisbane and byron bay (the eastern most point in oz)....

took a super early 5am flight on Sat morning to Brisbane... n den drove for another hour to Gold Coast.... we made in just in time for the opening of Movie World... And didnt know Movie World is still so popular after being around for so long.... there was a bit of queue though we reached there at 10am sharp - which is the theme park's opening hours....

here's a pix at the main drive-in entrance...

some pictures inside Movie World.... Shrek, Charlie and the Choc Factory, Harry Potter, Warner Bros, Scooby Doo.... some of the more popular stores and rides......

pictures of us in the theme park....

insider the Shrek shop.... rows and rows of gingerbread man... so cute... was tempted to get one.... mi n zijia trying to be "Puss-in-boots"... zijia is doing quite a good job... but mi, having under-developed facial muscles cant realli do it all that well.. hehe....

harry potter shop... the harry potter soft toys look quite "chiong".... not cute at all...

alwaz remembered Movie World having lots of cartoon characters walking around and posing with little kids... that's my impression when i went about 10 years ago... things have certainly changed... cant seem to find any more of those cartoon characters... tazzie devil and tweety bird were the onli 2 that we managed to catch... n there's this lonely marilyn monroe walking around with NO crowd at all... poor her... guess kids nowadaes dun realli know who she is....

pictures of some roller coasters that we took.. the "road-runner" and "superman".... the "road-runner" roller coaster was just a pre-empt to the highlight --> "superman" ride... we actualli took the "road-runner" in the kids corner... hahaha... 3 weak-hearted old ladies... we were so scared when we were waiting for the "superman".... tummy-ache n toilet needs were surfacing continuously as we were waiting for our turn for the ride... hahha... check out how scaree it looks from the photos below.... the super steep downturn was the "highlight" of the trip....

day 2 was spent watching sunrise at byron bay --> the eastern most point of oz... but from the pictures below, u can see how cloudy it was... didnt catch much of a sunrise... but nevertheless byron bay was a nice lookout with a lighthouse....

pictures of the lighthouse at the eastern most point of oz....

pictures of the cloudy sunrise....

mi at the beach of byron bay...

day 3 was at surfers paradise.... nothing much just the beach and a little shopping in the city...

<<本来>>

2009-05-15T23:26:00.001-07:00

本来不觉得你特别疼我
直到你放弃爱我以后
来不及了
对不起长大太慢
害你遗失了我
抱歉让你白费了这么多

monopoly??

2009-05-07T05:32:00.000-07:00

nooo... that's my house!! the one with red roof!!! snapshot of my surroundings... n not to forget our dearest xiao lan (the blue little car).....

aspiring architect

2009-05-07T05:03:00.000-07:00

here's the floor plan of my living area =)

built to last

2009-04-19T00:45:00.000-07:00

"Cause this is real, and this is good.

It warms the inside just like it should.

But most of all, most of all,it's built to last"

a quote from "built to last" which i found on a fren's wedding blog....how sweet!!
congrats ym!!! =)

13th wkend of chilli crab

2009-04-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

being from singapore makes ppl assume that you will have the ability to churn out yummy chilli crabs... that's afterall wat singapore is famous for... chilli crab and hainanese chicken rice.... the latter is pretty easy with the readily available chicken rice paste.... but chilli crab is definitely hard... first we have to kill the fierocious crabs... after which, we have to make the yummy spicy paste... but being a singapore "representative", i got assigned the tasks of preparing chilli crab for my vietnamese fren - giang.... n it has to be chilli crab and not chilli crap (quoted by giang)... heheh....

so on this bright sat morning after grower's market, we headed off the the fish market to get fresh crabs for our amazing task.... n it's a good thing we bump into jeslyn (this EY gal) at the fish market while choosing our crabs... she told us that fish market could kill the crabs for you... yippee!!! cant imagine how happie we were when we heard that.... it means the toughest part of crab cooking was done... how hard could it be after someone kills the crabs for you... dead seafood is definitely easy to handle... hehehe....

so here's the pictures of the DEAD crabs in our sink later in the afternoon....=)
mi and zijia having loads of fun playing ard with the crabs since they are dead and harmless... hahaha....
after fooling ard with the dead crabs, we started the task of cooking.... n oh boi.... it was realli CHOKING..... we have to stir fry the garlic and chilli first... n this was damn jia latz... both mi n zijia were sniffing n coughing away.... almost tot i would die from over-dosage of chilli smoke... n my nose cant stop running... had to block my nose with tissue papers to stop the smoke from going in.....

picture of mi serious at cooking the chilli crab.... this was the first part where we put in the crabs... before pouring in the sauce....
n after pouring in the sauce... n note that we made the sauce ourselves too!!! original from chilli sauce n tomato sauce..... not the usual "paste" stuff that we will use... this is authentic from natural ingredients... hehehe.... n from the 3 chilli padis, you can tell that it's REEEAAALLLIII hot stuff.... but it's yummy good stuff too!!!! =) simply finger-licking good... hahahaha....

n here's all of us with the big feast... tracy (giang's housemate), jing, zijia, mi and giang....

a close up of the amount of food we had.... hainanese chicken rice with roast chicken, vietnamese spring roll n the highlight of the night ->> chilli crabs!!! n the table was sooooooo full.... but overall it was a yummy feast.... so proud of my chilli crabs... hahah....

wkend at bondi

2009-04-16T05:29:00.000-07:00

it's the last wkend of summer.. so mi n jing decided to head to the beach before it turns cold... n it's also a post-hawaii-sydrome.. hehe.. thinking back, we havent realli been to bondi n relaxing by the beach... it's alwaz a tourist thing that we do at bondi -> take lotsa of pictures and not going into the water... so it's time for a little sun, sand and sea this wkend....

jing buying train tickets for us to head down to bondi....

at our destination -> bondi junction
at the beach....

2 bondi surfers getting ready to enter the water.....

the cool wave-rider....

and that's mi playing with the waves...it's a nice experience being engulfed by the waves... heaps of fun!!! wished i had a body-board to do a "mini-surf"...

the book that jing was reading while i was sun-tanning... measuring the world....

in the evening while we were walking home (after lazing ard bondi for the whole afternoon), guess wat we saw in the evening sky along darling park...

cool art of magic in the evening sky... alwaz love walking along the pyrmont bridge / darling park to get home in the evening... thr's alwaz a surprise waiting up there in the sky....

11th wkend => farewells n jenolan caves

2009-03-31T02:10:00.000-07:00

11th wkend back in sydney was spent on farewells as well as the first and last road trip by the family of 5....

Jenolan Caves
Here's the passport to the wonder of the underworld...

some pix of the jenolan caves surroundings taken while waiting for the start of the cave tour...

as we reached the jenolan caves at abt 2plus, we only had time to go for 1 cave tour... n we chose one of the more popular cave to visit ->LUCAS CAVE... length -> 860m / number of stair step -> 910...but it didnt feel that long when we were inside the cave... din prove too strenous... jus a veri chill n relax walk through the cave... it was a good choice as LUCAS is supposedly the best general cave, offering the largest and widest chamber amongst the Jenolan Caves.... And also, we had a glimpse of the underground river in LUCAS....

pictures inside LUCAS "Cathedral Chamber".... The highest chamber at 54 metres with scene of many weddings and concerts in the Caves.The Cathedral Chamber has arguably the best acoustics of any performance space in the world....

the famous "Broken column"... a column is formed from a stalagmite (might reach the roof one day) and a stalactite (must hold tight to the roof) meets... but this column is later broken when the plates holding the stalagmite shifts....

a glimpse of the underground river as we walk through the LUCAS cave...

and finalli pictures of us inside the cave...

at last, after 1.5 hours in the dark, it was us out in the bright daylight again =)

~ Hawaii ~ Maui ~

2009-03-22T05:41:00.000-07:00

the last 2 daes in hawaii was spent on the island of maui... the highlights of the maui trip are the hana road drive (drive of a lifetime) and the gorgeous sunrise at haleakala volcano top...

posing with our convertible!!! damn cool to be driving one... n the engine is indeed POWERFUL!!!

day one after we checked in at our hostel, we started on our HANA road drive... this drive is indeed the drive of my life.. it's a DRIVE or PUKE drive... 52 miles in a 2-lane road with more than 200 hairpin turns and crossing more than 50 bridges... zijia was the driver... n i was the pale, white-faced, going-to-puke-anytime passenger at the back....

random shots along the road in maui at the start of the hana road drive...

the first pit-stop of the hana road drive is the twin falls... as the name suggests, the waterfall starts with 2 sources and thus named as the twin fall... had to trek for about an hour b4 we finalli see the fall... n dun be fooled by the low water level... we had to walk abt 5 mins at knee-height water level before reaching this spot to take pix n abosrb the full view of the TWIN FALLS.... making our way through the water to get to the waterfall....

pictures of us making our way to reach the twin falls...

us in front of the twin falls... see the 2 sources of water at the top???

another pix of mi n zijia posing with the twin falls...

jus as we were walking out from the twin falls, we saw this lone ranger prawn which is super huge... wondering how it managed to land on the rock... n it's jus this ONE prawn thr... mebbe someone brought it in?? who noes....

we were so thirsty after trekking out from the twin falls... n there's this small drink stall jus at the edge of the forrest which the twin falls is hidden in... took some pix while waiting for my pineapple sugercane juice... the pineapple is so mini... hawaii's pineapples are realli veri nice.. the level of nice-ness is probabli comparable to the grapes i had in japan... veir random.. but yar... i miss the grapes in japan...

after the twin falls, we continue to drive on to our next pit-stop (black sand beach)... along the way, we saw some random waterfall along the HANA road drive... this is more magnificent than the twin falls.. n more importantly, this is just along the main road.. so no need trekked... jus stopped, take pix n den proceed on...

our 2nd pit-stop >>> the WAINANAPANAPA black sand beach.... the sand is REALLI black.... why so?? cos it's a volcanic ash beach... thus giving it the black pebblery feel... i like this beach a lot.. feels veri special.... the sight-seeing along this beach includes the lave hole and the blow hole with its periodic spurt of water....

check out the PETER RABBIT stone along the black sand beach...

pix of us at the black sand beach..

the 3 of us taking a shot inside the lave hole... it's a small entry along the black sand beach which leads to a hole huge enuff for us to stand straight inside... a good shelter from the sudden shower... n the other end of the opening leads to the gushing waves of the sea....

day 2>>> we woke up REAL earlee to go catch the haleakala sunrise...realli worth it cos this's another highlight of the hawaii trip.... here are some pictures we took while waiting for the sky to light up.... the combined number of photos we took during the entire sunrise process amounts to about 150!!! n ur truly contributed to close to 50% of the 150...

pictures of the nice sunrise....

we got some pictures of the volcano when the sun is high up in the sky...the reddish surface looks like pictures of Mars or some outerspace planets...

pictures of us on top of the mountain~~~ =)

after the sunrise, we took a quick nap in the car before driving off to LAHAINA TOWN which is a veri chill plc to nua.... we spent the whole dae thr, waiting for our flight back in the evening...

some pictures along the streets of lahaina town...

taking pictures outside our lunch / dinner place >> the cheeseburger shop...

inside the cheeseburger shop.... the decor of the restaurant was veri relax n funky... n check out the yummy food as well...

cheeseburger.. chilli cheese fries.... coconut shrimps... yums~~~ definitley will recommend this plc to ppl who are heading to maui for a holidae....

cheers!!!! yet another pina colada... but the one i had in oahu at the polynesian cultural centre is better... =)

this marks the end of our 1 week in Hawaii~~~

~ Hawaii ~ Oahu isLand ~

2009-03-07T04:38:00.000-08:00

cant believe tt i realli manage to take 1 week off to head to hawaii... we have been talking abt it a great deal but din expect it to eventualli crystallise... been a wonderful break... but jus too short... effectiveli it's abt 5 days onli... 5 days for 2 islands... way too short!!! but still it was a wonderful dream....

this's our nice rainbow chervolet who served us well for the 3 days we were at oahu island.... but check out the NICER convertible in the next blog (for maui island).....

first stop was the factory outlets... not cos we were shopaholics.... hahaha.. but cos was raining when we reached... so not realli a good idea to head down to waikiki beach or pearl harbour... so in the end, we spent 2 hours at the factory outlet... but never be-little our shopping speed... check out the damage done within this mere 2 hours... we each clocked abt USD 300 to USD 500!!!

when the skies started to clear, we headed down to pearl harbour - USS Arizona memorial site as planned... USS Arizona was the biggest war ship at Pearl Harbour which the Japanese attacked.... now it lies in peace with the memorial built on top of it as it was never possible to retrieve it back.... n along with it lies all the glorious warriors that went down with it....

Pearl Harbour - USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Centre

the memorial sitting on top of USS Arizona...

the various medals, flags and the list of brave ones who went down with the ship...

bare glimpse of USS Arizona which remains afloat, the torpedos used by the navy, USS Missouri which was used during the signing of the Japanese surrender treaty....

mi n jing with the sailor... wonder if he is a real one??? but he certainli looks like one...

Hiking up Diamond Head State Monument
Day 2 went spent on hiking and snorkelling... the weather was crap in the morning jus as we were abt to start our hike up the volcano crater - diamond head.... but luckily it started to clear when we started our climb...

a nice lady took this pix for us.. the first one was not so good so she offered to take another one... first frenli person we meet in hawaii (hawaiians are not as frenli as we tot... eheheh)....

on the way up... n no, we din have to do rock climbing up the crater... there was a path to walk on... this pix is just for camwhoring... hahah... but nice one hor??? i like this pix... looks natural...

the hike up was through tunnnels n stairways...

nice picture half-wae up the hike.... we realise this pix combination is the nicest... 1 on top n 2 in front...

n ta-daaaaaaaaaa..... we've reached the top... this is the magnificient view at the top of the diamond head crater.... a combination of mountain view n sea view...

this is the valley n mountain view to ur right....

n as u turn to the left, it's waikiki beach view....doesnt this pix look like some condo adver???

n to the left of waikiki, it's an aerial view of haunama bay...see the massive corals??? n the afternoon, we spent snorkelling at haunama bay....

Snorkelling in Hanauma Bay

here's a nearer picture of haunama bay...

these jap gals were like the tourist attraction of haunama bay.. they were bussee snapping photos with their colourful bikinis... n these gals are realli good at it... wonder if they are professional models... but on closer glance, they dun look tt pretty... hehehe... =p but they are realli veri veri good n naturally with their exotic poses.... n basicalli they were thr onli for camwhoring... n after lots of snapping (both by the japanese gals and the tourists taking photos of them), they jus packed up n left... they din even get into the water at all....

mi with my snorkelling gear....

see how clear the water is... can see the fish so clearli...

Koko isLand

it's jus a random stop along the highway as we were driving back to our accomm....

Magnificent sceneries of Kualoa Ranch

Day 3 was spent in the north-west of oahu.... the kualoa ranch was a spontaneous add-on that we decided to go when we saw the adver on JETSTAR... this was realli well-worth the $$... din regret making this trip... it's probabli one of the highlight of oahu island....

the bus that took us to all the filming sites... n we were mistaken twice for japanese..... thr are soooooo many japanese tourists over there that they have an english bus n a japanese bus.....

various views along the drive... n the photos are NOT edited.... damn nice!!!!

n this ranch is the filming site for lots of movies - jurassic park, pearl harbour n even the romnatic 50 first dates....

the 3 of us (zijia, jing n mi) ....

that's the pacific ocean behind mi!!

Polynesian Cultural Centre

After the Kualoa ranch, we headed further west to the polynesian cultural centre where we experienced the lives of each of the 6 different tribes (tahiti, samoa, aotearoa, fiji, tonga and hawaiian) n even feasted on the "luan" - traditional hawaiian meal...

the canoe pageant - the 6 different tribes will put up a short performance as the canoe floats past....

the venue for our yummy feast!!

the "luan" served buffet style....

to complete off the meal with pina colada.......... yumsss~~~~

n this marks the end of oahu island... but not the end of our hawaii trip... check out the next blog with more highlights from the trip.....

the truth

2009-02-21T07:08:00.001-08:00

mebbe this is simply the truth... one doesnt care n one doesnt fight... jus that no one told mi this b4...

stranger~~

2009-02-20T06:20:00.000-08:00

it's real amazing how much a person can change... priorities change, ppl change... this is a fact tt i have long come to terms with... but i din noe a person could actualli change tt much... from such a close fren to a near stranger... no more words of concern nor any tinge of interest in ur life... probabli it's mi being too skeptical and self-fulfilling wat i have alwaz believed will happen... alwaz wondered wat will happen todae if i took a different path... but it will alwaz be a question mark sadli... it's alwaz sad to lose a listening ear, a crying shoulder... but when u are no longer a part of someone's life.. that's wat happens.....

5th weekend in sydney

2009-02-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

this week is yet another round of farewell... n it's for a gal from my batch now.. andrea (the tax gal) is heading back to singapore... n now it seems like reality is realli so near... it's almost time to go back.. after i'm so comfortable with the life in sydney, it's time to go home... have alwaz tot tt i would be so delighted when it's time to head back... but now... it seems like i've settled comfortably here and yet have to shift again... wonder how life will be like in sg... will it still be as leisure as over here... will i even be able to update my blog with activities tt i do everi wkend?? or will it be jus the monotaneous work work work....

this cutie lambie that we got for andrea... it's JAILED... hahah... like wat will happen to us when we are back working in sg... imprisoned by work....
nice cider that ben and ah jie bought for us....

here's the pictures for andrea's farewell... dinner after work @ fujiyama in the city.... mi n zijia....

the 3 of us who are heading to hawaii at the end of feb... yipppeee!!!!

the jnrs with andrea...

the john streeters with andrea....was bored while waiting for food... so was jus fiddling with the chopsticks... din realise tt it was taken into the photo as well....

boredom while waiting for food....

and as usual... we were all too busee gobbling down food so no pix of anithing after the food was served... hahaha....

the farewells this year didnt seem as sad as the one that we had for the seniors last yr... probabli cos we are not that close to the ppl leaving this year??? last year, we have fridae dinners almost everi week without fail... realli veri good bonding sessions... i miss the seniors... n i miss the travelling tours we have together... things seem to have changed so much this year... sometimes, i realli prefer the good old daes....

following andrea's farewell, we had a "farewell" for ah jie too... ktv session to sing qiu niao (jailed bird) !! this is realli his life after his gf is here... jailed away from john st... ah jie is not leaving sydney but jus leaving 76 john st.... he leads a totalli different life when his gf is here... so it's farewell for him from the john streeters... n ever since his gf is back, we can only get to see him over kopi breaks in office... no more running buddy for zijia.... no more dinner at john st.. goodbye ah jie~~

this was dinner at ktv... we had ikea meat balls, baked potatoes and sausages... tastes much better than it looks....cos the pix were jus left overs... hahahah....

da bao drinks from mamak (the prata stall) after ktv.....that's so singaporean.... it's drinks and pubbing for the local aussies... but it's teh bing n milo bing for us singaporeans....

more pictures while waiting for our teh bing n milo bing....

went to a nearby field to chit chat while having the drinks... dunno wat zijia n ah jie were doing... think they were trying to do the "let's gather, children!!" sign... but looks funnie though... heheh...

5th weekend was also the first weekend of Feb... which means.... we will go to the monthly event behind the casino -----> growers' market.... it's these tentage stalls put together every first wkend of the month... ppl go thr for brekkie or to buy some groceries..... n for us, it's alwaz bacon and egg roll brekkie.... sometimes with coffee, sometimes with orange juice... plus some add-ons like pancake or banana bread or pastries... but bacon n egg roll is a MUST kind....

mi, wanyi n ah pat.... look at ah pat's mouth stuffed with food... he believes tt food tastes yummier when u stuffed ur whole mouth full n den slowli chew n swallow... hahaha... funnie logic ah... my house is full of funnie ppl with weird beliefs... this is wat happens when u put a grp of strangers to live together... hahaha.... but it's lots of fun =)

mi, wanyi n zijia....

tt evening, we went to st george open air movie... this is the view as we were walking through the royal botantic garden to get to mrs macquerie point to get the tix to the movie....

stopped to pose with some flowers in the "ROSE GARDEN"....

some statue which i dun remember the name or the reason why it was thr... hahaha...

glass pyramid greenhouse....
big cactus in the midst of the royal botanic garden...

managed to catch the sunset after we bought the tix n waiting for the movie to begin....

n oso took a pix in front of the opera hse.....

had to wait for 2 hours so it was chilling time at opera bar b4 the start of the show at 8.45pm... as it was outdoor open air movie, of course we have to wait for the sky to turn dark.... which is late during summer days.....mi n zijia with lemon lime bitters...

view of harbour bridge where we were chilling....

reflections.....

all the icons of sydney.... opera hse, harbour bridge, lemon lime bitter n zijia??? not sure abt the last bit though... heheh.. but well... i met her onli in sydney... so i guess she's part of sydney as well....
this is the nice view tt u get at the open air theatre... cool to have the opera hse n harbour bridge as the backdrop for ur movie =)

wanyi n ah pat...

nice sydney opera hse n harbour bridge view from the open air theatre... it's my fav pix out of the ones for the 5th wkend =)

4th weekend =)

2009-02-19T02:43:00.000-08:00

4th weekend marks the end of the chinese new year period as well... we spent this wkend at Palm beach... a nice quiet beach up north....

76 john streeters with ah jie at palm beach....

stars!!! i like being a STAR =)

1... 2.... 3... 4....

yum cha session at sky phoenix ikea for sunday brekkie... my favourite yum cha place... think i will miss yum cha a lot when i m back in sg... the yum cha in sydney is REAL yummy =)

see how manneeee har kaos we ordered...

look at the monsters in us!!! we bought so much food from thai kee (chinese supermarket).... check out the LONGGGGGGGGG receipt and the car boot filled to the max......

look at the 3 of us busee at work for the BIG dinner....

but we still had time to pose for a nice pix... evidence of us hard at work in the kitchen....

my proud creation -> yu shen made from carrots, radish, apples and some chips!! tasted pretty authentic cos of the plum sauce....

family photo time =) 76 john streeters - permanent and part time ones....

BU BU GAO SHEN!!!!!! HUAT AH!!!!

and that's the end of the story for the 4th weekend back in sydney - which also marks the end of January =)

aussie long wkend

2009-01-30T03:46:00.001-08:00

3rd wkend back in sydney was spent in melb, watching the musical wicked and aussie opens... woke up super earlee to send the john streeters to the airport... took a later flight in the afternoon which proved to be veri eventful... took a pix of the morning sky from my balcony... dun think i will ever wake up earlee enuff.. so decided to take some pix...

the tennis court opposite my hse and the nearby apartments... randomli took a pix of my pinkie room too....

here's the interval during the musical... tt the green "Ozmopolitian"... the musical "Wicked" was simply amazing... love the raining scene... it's some lighting effects... reminded mi of the college daes when we had real water "RAIN" in the theatre... the amazing part is not jus the rain.. it's the amazing speed at which the crew took to clean up the rain (probabli abt 5 mins??)... simply love the raining effect... but i think the professionals are indeed different... they could use lighting to achieve the same raining effect... WOW!!!!

sundae was spent watching tennis the whole dae...

the rod laver arena... pity we din manage to get the tix... cos federer was playing thr on sundae as well...

pictures of the "HiSense" court where we watched the various matches...

serve by andy roddick.. his serves were crazily fast... gg at 200km... my serve will probabli be onli 5% of his speed... hahaha... but this is a nice pix hor?? looks professional i think.. hahaha....

the winner of each match will usually get interviewed...

more pix of the court jus b4 we leave after the 3 matches...

it was new yr's eve as well.. so had lou hei n reunion dinner after watching tennis open...

everione present... happie chinese new yr!!! =)

2nd wkend back in Sydney

2009-01-30T02:31:00.000-08:00

busee saturdae afternoon for the 2nd wkend back from sg....lots of farewells - andrea is finishing her secondment n heading back to sg... lucky chiang got a 3 months secondment to the channel islands....

finalli had the chance to slp in on sat... been real tired from all the long nites for peak.. when i woke up, the whole hsehold is bustling with activities.. feels like a REAL family...

here's our handyman-cum-IT expert ah pat repairing his bike...

and here's the main chef of the dae... mari's LGG (james).. he's a real GOOD cook... check out the lunch he made for us....

duck stew which took 5 hours to cook... he has started cooking it since fridae nite...

pasta with duck stew and cheeseeee.....

the full-time john streeters and part time ones (ben and ah jie) taking photos with the main chef!!

chiang's farewell at superbowl...taking pix while waiting for the food...

lufi's farewell at her place... she spent the whole afternoon cooking nasi lembak with the sambal ikan billis, luncheon meat, chicken wings... authentic ones!!! it's actualli her hse-warming-cum-farewell... onli here for 6 months and she had to go back to take care of her ill mummy... the first meal is also the last meal tt she prepared for all of us... it's a promise tt she made 6 months back when she was in the midst of moving into her hse.....

one last grp photo before lufi leaves sydney....

start of the new year

2009-01-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

back in sydney again... this time round, it doesnt feel so sad to leave sg... mebbe cos i'll be back in another 6 months time?? or mebbe i've already gotten used to the life over in sydney... guess it will be another place tt i've have lotsa fond memories... a place where i call home for the past 1.5 year... wish to spend the next 6 months exploring as much as i could over i aussie b4 i head back to piles of work in sg...

so here's the photos for the first weekend back in sydney~~~~~~~~~~~

FRIDAE
headed to strathfield (the korean town) for dinner on fri evening... seems like a long long time since we last went thr... used to go there quite frequentli with the snrs... but even since they went back in jun last yr, we've seldom been down to strathefield... alwaz like gg thr cos i simply love Korean food... yum yum!!!

had to take a train dwn cos our car broke down again... couldnt get it started when we are back.. but once again we self-entertained during the ride, busee taking photos....

had korean hotpot at "Dao Ri"... we almost alwaz go back to this same restaurant when we are at Strathfield for dinner.... my hsemates (jing and zijia) and my jnr (yeen leng).....

headed to Square Cafe for drinks after dinner... n it's a bad move... it's so COLD outside... *brrrrrr* summer in sydney feels weird... the weather's sooo unpredictable... it's so cold till i have brought out my winter jackets to wear.... but back to Square Cafe, it's a nice outdoor restauarnt area.... coold atmosphere... pix below as evidence of how nice it is!!! =)

headed back home after dinner... the streets in sydney on a fridae nite... wonder why the busee George Street seems to empty when it's onli 10 plus on a Friday......

SATURDAE
went out to surry hills for lunch... it's the famous "BILLS" tt everyone have been discussing about.... it was a nice place... relaxing saturdae afternoon.. how i wish everi sat will be sooo chill... mi n ben with the yummy food....

din do much after BILLS... just went shopping in the arvo n den went home to nua after till dinner time...

caught a nice sunset outside our hse on our wae out for dinner... this shot is literally taken outside our hse... like the sunset against anzac bridge....

cam-whoring at the hotel lobby while waiting for zijia's fren who never appeared.... looks like some camera adver... new wae to take grp photos... using the mirror-approach.....

had jap food at MASUYA... hotpot n sushi....nice decor at the restaurant entrance...

here are some shots along the pyrmont bridge... a familiar way home from office...

cambodia

2009-01-11T02:48:00.000-08:00

i have a song

2008-11-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

it's the best bdae present i have received in my entire 25 years!!! it's a song.... a song specialli written for mi... by jing.... i love her!!! we have alwaz been talking abt her writing a song for our 2 yrs secondment here... but i noe it's real hard to write melody n lyrics... mi for sure cannot do it... but she jus came up to my room to look at pix n den asked mi randomli wat's the recording file in the folder... i jus tot it was a misc file tt i copied as well cos i jus copied some photos from zijia.... n she jus asked mi to open it... so i jus casualli opened it not realising tt it's a song for MI!!!so after hearing the song, played on jazz.. n veri ming yao style... i was jus thinking "yup... ttz a nice song... mus be from those to be discovered singers" n den i jus stopped the song.... after which she gave mi a letter... so i happily tot it mus be a xmas letter... cos i jus gave her one ydae... heheh... n den i opened up the letter n it's thr!!!!!!!!! the song!!!! my song!!!!! i cannot believe it!!! i have a song written specialli for mi... i was realli veri veri touched... i din expect such a special bdae gift... the best ever... cos it realli came from the heart... was a nice surprise 2 of the dae... realli din expect jing to be sooooo sweet.... so happie tt i have such wonderful frens ard mi... thank you sooooooooo much..... i love the song......... =)

surprise KTV

2008-11-27T05:55:00.000-08:00

my first birthdae cake =) it was supposed to mi a farewell KTV session for my manager... we have always talked abt having KTV with her but we have never had one... so jus as she was gg to leave the firm next wk, we organised a KTV for her... n i have nv expected it to be a mini bdae celebration for mi...

in the midst of the ktv, there was happie birthdae being played on the screen... n i was like "hmmm... isit for mi???" n den they happyli sang happie birthdae for mi... n when they finish singing the song, it was WOWWW~~~~~~~

my manager n another colleague (becky) walked in with a super nice bdae cake...realli din expect a birthdae cake at all.... so nice!!!!

thank you !!!!!

mi with the cake

jing - mi - zijia

eileen (my mgr) - mi - ruyi

eleana - becky - mi - ruyi

Halloween 2008

2008-11-03T23:16:00.001-08:00

halloween is pretty fun over in aussie... now tt we moved to a townhse, we realli have kids knocking on our doors screaming "treat or tricks"... from little witches to little devils... all veri cute... we had a halloween party on 1 nov 08 (sat) too... it's the 2nd one i had over here... the first one was with the seniors... was heaps of fun... initialli everione was like "huh?? realli need to dress up ah??" but in the end, the turnout was quite good... everione realli did attempt to do a bit of dressing up... i was the wicked witch last year... this yr, we did it with the jnrs n i decided to be "captain hook"....

introducing the main characters of the night as follows:

(1) mr bento as prisoner 1

(2) kevin as prisoner 2

(3)gothic gal
(4) super nerd

(5) phantom
here's the entire grp who reallie did dress up... from the left, yeen leng (witch), cherrie (devil), mi (captain hook), wanyi with kevin and ben (gothic gal with 2 pet prisoners), gin jing (phantom), zijia (nerd), lufei (gypsy gal)....
all the gals... marilyn, joyce n clarice came as themselves... not scaree enuff!!!

marilyn posing with all captain hook, phantom, nerd and prisoner....

ms captain hook and pretty sexy devil in red.....

mi n the gothic gal... i was trying so hard to act fierce n not laff... hahah... seems like a bad attempt....

second try at acting scaree n fierce... not much better as well... guess i jus dun have the fierce scaree look....

gothic gal with scaree prisoner and our SUPER nerd!!!

captain hook trying to break into the ancient spider webby door.... it's the main door of our hse.. looks cool with all the "spider web" look right??

sculptures by the sea ~~ bondi

2008-11-03T23:12:00.001-08:00

everi yr during the start of spring, there will be a "sculpture by the sea" festival at bondi... i realli wonder how they do it... but they will have sculptures "shifted" to the bondi beach... so as u take a slow nice walk from bondi to bronte, u will see all the sculptures... there were manee more sculptures but we onli walked a short stretch...below are some pictures of the sculptures and us (wanyi, kevin, zijia and mi)....

sculpture 1 (forgot the name liao.. hehe)

sculpture 2 (photo frame with a / b / c / d)

(nice bubble in the sea... amazing how they do it)

(us with "imagine")

(mi with the wishing tree.... colourful roots)

new home!!

2008-11-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

after months of house searching, it finalli ended on a happie note.. managed to chance upon this great hse with a great location.. it's still located in pyrmont (where we originalli stayed)... jus a few streets down... the location's good cos it's within walking distance from ofc... n the hse is big enuff... 3.5 levels (including the basement room)... enuff to accommodate 5 of us in the hse n with lots of space ard... here are some pictures of the new place...

(wanyi's master bedroom)

(zijia's bedrm - beside mine)

(n here's mine!!)

(n this's my happie familie)

canberra - floriade 2008

2008-09-16T23:09:00.000-07:00

was a weekend trip to canberra... with jing, wanyi (my housemates), zijia (my upcoming housemate), giang (my vietnamese snr), shuwen and xunwen (who were visiting from sg)... this is the 2nd time i m heading thr.. but it's for a different reason... was gg thr for the floriade... was looking fwd to it cos love tulips... was rotating the driver's seat with wanyi.. so here's the photos i took along the wae when i m bored as the co-driver...

these are the "canberra trees" per jing.. haha.. cos we tend to see these trees in neat rows on the wae to canberra... hahaha...

upon reaching canberra, we saw these "cherry blossom" look-alike.. veri pretty!! but have no idea what these trees are... saw quite a lot of these trees juz as we entered canberra....

the group taking pix in front of our first stop - new parliment house.. n the iconic flagpole with 4 pillars...

some trees b4 the start of all the flowers pix... like pix of bare trees.. somehow feel tt they have a veri artistic feel.. hehe...

here's the start of the pretty flowers... was a bit disappointed though.. cos it's the first weekend of the floriade so the flowers were not all blooming... but still got some nice pix...

these were 2 little kids taking photos.. n the whole grp of us gals were snapping away like the kids were some superstars... but they were realli veri cute!!! cant help it... the younger brother is called nicholas n the older kid in red jacket is called douglas...

ben commented that this pix looks like a poster shot... hahah.. so proud of it!!

more flower pix... first time i took so much photos tt wanyi n zijia wanna confiscate my camera cos i was sooo slow... hahah... kept stopping to take pix.. heheh...

the focus of this pix is supposed to be the bare tree behind... but somehow it din manage to turn out like tt... the yellow tulips seem to be the focus pt instead... but still pretty photo i think... haha....

these are gnomes painted by ppl who wer at the floriade.. this is a grp of gnomes picnicking...

see the white one in front?? 3rd from the right... looks like some super star gnome...

the "priscilla - queen of the desert" gnomes....

this one is cute.. hiding behind the bushes...

last pix of the dae - mi with the gnomes!!!

Ski Trip (30 - 31 August 2008)

2008-09-16T23:08:00.001-07:00

2nd ski trip since i came over.. different group of ppl all together.. went with the juniors, melb kias and a couple of us from sydney.. totalli random combination.. realli yuan fen tt this whole grp went down together.. .this time round we went to perisher blue - blue cow slope (supposedli the most beginner slope)... was realli a veri massive group - total of 21 ppl!! hahah... like tour grp like tt...

we pia all the wae down... drive for about 6 hrs... plus all the stop over to change driver as well as rent out ski gear.... we started the drive at abt 8 plus n onli reached the accommodation at 4 plus... super super shack... n den the next dae need to wake up earlee at 7plus to get dwn to the slopes to start the dae...

n after ski-ing for one whole dae, we pia back to sydney at nite... started the drive abt 10 plus... reach in the morning at 3plus... cos was jus tooo cold to stay in the hse... n den not intending to ski on sundae... so might as well pia back on sat... but was glad we did tt... so can rest on sun... hahha...

pictures of the slopes below... but this time round, the scenery was not as gd as the first time...

the slopes were pretty crowded... though it wasnt ani long wkend...

mi n zijia... both super tired from all the ski-ing....

Tassie Trip

2008-09-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

to be update~~~~

Cairns - 30 May 08 to 4 jun 08

2008-09-04T07:26:00.001-07:00

realised a consistent blogging trend... all my posts are 2 months late... this current blogging is for my cairns trip from 30 may 08 to 4 jun 08... the 3 of us (jing, wanyi n mi) went to cairns with darren, max and michelle.... the main purpose is for diving.... n it's quite cool to do it in cairns.... cos u can dive without a license.... the instructor will just gif u some theory lessons on the boat n den down u go with an instructor to about 4 - 5 ppl.... this sounds like a much better deal.... cos u dun haf to learn to do anithing... jus go dwn n the instructor will do all the inflating n deflating for u... den dun haf to panick abt not getting the correct pressure n not being able to go dwn.... n the instructor will hold ur hand as u dive dwn... hahah... okies.. enuff of my luo-suo-ing.... here comes the pix!!!

Day 1
the instructor giving his theory diving lesson to this entire group of newbies... i was trying veri hard to concentrate cos dun wanna die during diving in the ocean... it doesnt sound tt hard though... jus 2 impt things tt we need to remember... or at least ttz why the instructor claims..... (1) remember to breathe; (2) dun come straight up; (3) dun panick!!!... hahah... how hard can tt be.... but u realli haf to be in the water to noe how hard 3 things can be... esp the dun panick one...heheh....

Not before long, i'm in the water!!! it's real tough to plunge ur head in... cos not used to breathing through the mouth.... the 4 of us (jing, were together with some japanese instuctor) took damn long to get everione into the water.... i think he was damn pissed off with us... hahah... cos he jus wanna go in n haf fun.....

din have much pix of us in the water cos everione was in the water so no one to take pix... this photo was taken during the 2nd dive... yup... i had so much fun during the first one tt i wanna go a second time... first one was too short... not shiok enuff... heheh... jing din go a second time so thanks to her, i had this pix....

we took this pix with "da jie" after the dive on our wae back.. look at how dry he is!! haha.. cos he din go for the 2nd dive as well... he din even snorkel... was jus happily slping on the ferry waiting for us.....

grp pix at the esplanade after alighting from the ferry...

saw this cool signboard along the streets after dinner... it's pointing to the various attractions in cairns as well as major cities ard the world... cool!!!!

Day 2

We're on the cruise to Green Island... thr's nothing much thr though... went on some glass boat tour n "trekking" ard the island... did some snorkelling along the beach too... or rather attempted to snorkel cos din haf life jacket n mi din dare to swim out to places whr i cant touch the ground.. hahah... anw after this trip, i realli realli wanna learn swimming....

busy eating on the wae to green island which is our usual favourite activity... haha...

guess wat we are doing... we are trying to sing without moving our shoulders... hahah... someone jus made this comment, saying tt good singers do not move their shoulders when they sing... we are real bo liao right... "pretending" to be good singers....

see wanyi is in my eye!!!

aussie 5 acting cool.... like some advertisment pose again....

i like beaches here in aussie!!

Day 3
We went trekking around to get to the nice nice waterfalls.... this is a veri spontanteous pix... we were walking thru the forest n den all of a sudden darren took out his camera n we all posed.... it's quite a good shot...

this's the josephine falls.... nice but short waterfall....

the 3 sisters with the waterfall... i like this pix.....

this is still at josephine falls... the 2 adventurous saggis walking dwn the stream to take pix...

this's our 2nd stop... the milaa milaa falls... milaa = lots of water.... a rather appropriate name cos this waterfall is indeed much longer than josephine falls.... n the water's veri cold thr too... thus, thr's a polar bear challenge... if u dare jump into the waters n swim to the waterfall area, u can go to the nearby village to collect a "i m a polar bear" badge....

curtain fig tree... looks scaree... like one of the props for those typical ghost movie.....

after all the trekking thru the forest, we went to lake eachim.... nv knew i got take such nice pix... hehhe... but it's cos of the still-ness of the lake... see how nice the clouds reflection is... another one of my fav pix....

darren took a dip in lake eachim while the 3 of us sat at the corner, practising our stone throwing skills... trying to master or at least learn the art of "stone jumping on water surface" throw... after numerous attempts, i finalli manage to get it right once or twice... hahah.... this is how lousee we are.....

this is the pose for the animals tt we represent during the animal game tt we play everinite at the hotel room...

darren - crocodile / max - fish / mich - penguin / mi - starfish / wanyi - shark / jing - jellyfish

this is just a random scenice lookout tt we stopped along our way to the waterfalls... real nice although it's just an unintended stopover / lookout point.... beautiful blue blue sea....

went to the factory of dairy farmers for afternoon coffee break....

Easter Getaway

2008-06-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

A few of us went down to Albury and Wodonga during the Easter long weekend... The location was chosen not cos it was some exciting happening town but mainli cos it's in the middle of Melb n Syd... Cos need to cater to the needs of both the Syd and Mel kias... Flying is too expensive.. So we decided to drive around...

Having brekkie at this Gypsy's Cafe... Only place in Albury-Wodonga that is opened on an Easter weekend... But the coffee sucksss.... Probabli ttz why it has to be open during Easter... Cos this is the onli chance for it to make $$$... Hahah...

The main purpose of gg Albury-Wodonga is to chill n play golf... But a few of us din noe how to play on the greens... So we ended up being bungee-drivers... That's mi n Lilian (Darren's gf) posing as drivers for the golfies....

There's realli nuttin to do in Albury n Wodonga except golfing during the day time.. So the few of us did a stunner at nite... We drove down to Melb!!! I'm still amazed by it lor.. The drive from Albury to Melb is alright... Abt 4 hrs... But it's the drive back to Syd which is like 10 hrs!!! So we reached Melb at abt 3plus am and we need to leave the next dae noon time... Hahha... Didnt even spend 1 day in Melb.....

Evidence of our adventure -- Walking along Melb streets....

Wanted to have the famous cheesecake @ Greco Cafe... but were all too full after Yum Cha... So onli took a pix with the yummy array of cakes...

our great escapade

2008-04-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

feels good to be on unofficial leave.. over in aussie, leave is alwaz spent in style... n away from sydney... once again we haf ventured out to the entrance... n yes, indeed the place is called "The Entrance".... wat a name!! heheh... but it's jus a nice chill place abt 2hrs drive away from the bustling city... a nice beach n coastal place.... n the 3 of us jus spent the day relaxing, watching pelican feeding n cafe-ing.... we were driving ard the entrance n everi stop we make, we will jus go to the nearest cafe for coffee, cakes n pies....

(entrance with marine parade in sydney)

(jings-max-mi)

(nice coast)

(feed time)

(greedy pelicans)

(nice poster pix)

first chinese new yr away from home

2008-04-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

chinese new year away from home seems veri un-chinese new yr... the feeling of having to work on the first day of chinese new yr sux... it jus feels like any other normal wkg day... being overseas made mi treasure chinese new yr in sg more... more festive feel... with all the ang baos n chinese new yr goodies... over in sydney, some chinese dun even celebrate cny... n i haf chinese colleagues telling mi tt "ohh.... reunion dinner?? we din haf it cos we were all wkg late...." how weird can this get??? chinese not celebrating cny and not hafing reunion dinner cos they haf to work late??!?! culture differences.... same skin colour, same roots but growing up in a different country is wat realli moulds u....

but one happie thing abt cny away from home is tt we still haf "Lao Yu Shen" here!!! although it's super expensive... but it was a yummy dinner n yu shen.... everione looks sooo happie... we had dinner n yu shen at "Ginger and Spice"... the authentic must-try singaporean food restauratnt in sydney... yum yum!!

~setting up the ingredients~

~all chopsticks in action~

~happie faces~

updates

2008-03-21T04:06:00.000-07:00

it has been so long since i last updated this blog.. lots have happened during this period.. been back sg in dec n been on more trips since i came back...

jan 08 --> went to melb aussie open to watch tennis with a bunch of frens (from both syd n melb)... short weekend get-away but was great fun...

~ pix from melbourne aussie open trip~

(mi - joey - wanyi @ the main entrance)

(mi with face painting n a glimpse of the tennis court)

(full view of the vodaphone court that we were at)

(melb + syd kias)

--> "look at how round my face is as compared to when i just came over!!"

~ end of melbourne aussie open trip~

jan o8 --> aussie open was the second wkend after i came back from singapore for xmas break.. the third wkend was spent on wkend trip as well.. cos we haf a public holiday on mondae so away we went once again... ttz the best thing in aussie.. we can go away for short trips during long wkends... no such wkend trips back home... onli more of shopping trips.. hee...

~ Glimpse of our hunter valley / newcastle trip~

(horse riding in newcastle - mi n my charming white horse)

(nice brekkie @ hunter valley - both of us sharing a pancake set in an attempt to jian fei)

(pix of the gals at the brekkie place)

(it's supposed to be a lavendar garden in the backgrd... but realli cant see much... so disappointing cos we specialli made a detour to see it... plus it's super hot... we are all burning when posing for the photo...)

~ end of jan trips~

2007-10-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

time realli flies. before i knew it, i haf been in the foreign land for almost 4 months. so it doesnt seem right to call this place whr i am staying in and will be staying in for the next 2 yrs to come a foreign land. over the past 4 months, things are starting to turn familiar. the daily route i take to work, the same office tt i go to, the same wkend groceries shopping. however, at the same time when things start to slow down n lose its excitment, it's when the feeling of missing home, family and friends starts to creep in slowli. probably cos i was on leave for the past 2 daes. it's the first time since the first few wks tt i suddenli feel like gg home. being in a familiar place whr i grew up and having loved ones around. guess it's oso probably cos there have been frens visiting, as well as mi hsemate's family visiting. and it's alwaz smiling faces of joy and excitement when they first come; but sad faces when saying farewells to our loved ones at the airport once again. over the past 2 weeks, i have made a total of 3 trips to the airport to send ppl off. parting is alwaz sad, even it's not my loved ones tt i am sending off. ttz how life works. ppl come, ppl go. it's jus part n parcel of life. so alwaz treasure what you have and who you haf around u at this moment. for you will never noe if the person will still be ard the next moment.

my apartment after the furniture are set up

2007-09-29T04:43:00.000-07:00

my apartment --- in the process

2007-09-29T04:29:00.000-07:00

this photo's taken when we jus shift in our apartment... luggages all around... n cos we bought ikea furniture, need to set up everithing ourselves.... plus all the relocation boxes shipped in from sg... realli veri veri messy!!!!

my apartment -- before

2007-09-29T04:20:00.000-07:00

the gap @ watson's bay

2007-09-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

watson's bay once again =)

2007-09-28T23:34:00.000-07:00

nice sunset at watson's bay.. n we actualli caught it cos we missed our last ferry... n the funniest thing is tt we din realise tt we missed the ferry... waited for like close to 30 - 40 minutes... den was jus thinking tt "as usual, it's a cocked up once again.. " so we stupidly waited for sooooo long b4 we decided to check it out... lucky we saw this veri pretty sunset... so it's a good thing tt we missed the ferry oso... hee....

road tt leads to the "light-house" lookalike... cos not sure wat building tt is oso... see the pix in the next post... ttz the white "light-house".... =)

lovely saturday afternoon

2007-09-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

see the backgrd?? that's the famous 3 sisters at blue mountains!! so 3 of us decided to take pix with the stoney 3 sisters... hee... love this pix!!!

the view at blue mts is realli very magnificient... plus the nice weather... indeed one of the must go places in sydney....

blue mountains 22 sep 2007

2007-09-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

from sg to sydney

2007-09-28T00:41:00.001-07:00

summary of obstacles along the way for move from Sg to Sydney~~~~

1. @ sg airport --> visa with wrong ic number, so having problems with checking in....

2. @ sg airport --> flight got delayed for 2 hours....

3. first week in sydney --> din bring ic or driving license, so cant open bank accts (they need residential address, so cant use passport only)..... ding dong ding dong between bank n hotel to get temporary residential proof thru hotel bill... cos the bank wants exact address, cannot use abbreviation (eg. postal code cannot put as S(123456), muz put as singapore (123456))...

4. first week in sydney --> no license, so cant drive also....

5. first week in sydney --> bought a prepaid card which is supposed to be activated within a few hours... but mine was onli activated 1 day later.... why??? cos the telephone co din terminate the line for the previous user, so i cant activate mine... n yes, they are reusing their numbers....

6.subsequent weeks in sydney --> phone co missed appointment to come set up the phone line, so waited for 4 hours in vain.... plus the ppl here dun work on wkends!!! so need to use office hours to do all these admin things.... n they are realli slow!!!

7. subsequent weeks in sydney --> more waiting!!! cos of the internet... waited so long for the provider to send the modem over, only to realise tt the modem is spoilt... so sent back n waited for them to resend another one... den the 2nd time, they r even "smarter".... sent modem with no power adaptor.... den more ding dong ding dong, and finallie we got our internet set up after abt 2 months.....

In conclusion, almost eveything tt could go wrong has went wrong.... hahah... cant think of anithing else tt could have gone wrong.... have never been soooo suay b4.... and all these suay-ness is within 3 months!!!! hopefulli this marks the end of my suayness for my whole life!!!! hahaha~!~!~!

3 of us once again....

2007-09-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

blue blue sky!!

2007-09-12T05:59:00.000-07:00

Deep in TotS

2007-09-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

Charlie's Angels in the Making... =p

2007-09-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Quad Biking @ Port Stephens

2007-09-12T05:24:00.000-07:00

our hostel at newcastle - looks so pretty!!

2007-09-12T05:18:00.000-07:00

Great Weekend - Newcastle n Port Stephens

2007-09-12T04:57:00.000-07:00

I am Flying!!!!

2007-09-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

That's me in the glider!!! Damn shiok... Too bad cant take camera up to take down the view on top....

Preparing to Fly~!~!~!

2007-09-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

Newcastle - Hang Gliding (8 Sep 2007)

2007-09-10T05:08:00.000-07:00

Posing with the glider... i'll be flying on it later.... no engine.... just using the wind energy.... see the slope behind?? jus gg to jump off the slope with the glider... sounds scary??? yar... super scared initialli... but when u r actualli flying, it feels very safe... scroll down to see pix of mi flying!!!

cool with ski boards

2007-08-30T03:11:00.000-07:00

more skiing pix

2007-08-30T03:07:00.000-07:00

Ski Trip~!~!

2007-08-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

The Final Destination... Bondi Beach.....

2007-08-30T02:18:00.000-07:00

this's the final stop of our 14km walk... bondi beach... so contrasting against the pix i posted some time ago when i went thr during the first week i was here... it's so crowded!!!

Pencils walkig 14 km

2007-08-30T02:11:00.000-07:00

Another group of ppl dressed up for City to Surf~!~!~!

AtMs RuNNinG

2007-08-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

City to Surf 12 Aug 2007

2007-08-29T04:59:00.000-07:00

City to Surf~!~!~!

it's a 14km run from the city to the bondi beach... sounds xiong right?? but dun realli have to run la... can jus walk the whole 14km.. which is wat i did with my hsemates.. but it's quite fun la... cos the weather was very shiok... very cooling... n along the way, we get to see all sorts of ppl dressed up in different costumes...

Priscilla Bar

2007-08-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Nice bar tt they haf outside the theatre....

Priscilla - Queen of the Desert

2007-08-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

First musical tt we watched here... it's actualli a drag show.... but the guys were veri veri good.... great singing n dancing..... n the costumes were veri elaborate...... glad tt we were able to catch it b4 it ends.... cos the last show is in sep 07.... next up will be miss saigon... will be catching tt as well..... starting to be more artistic.... hahahha....

PiX aLong Bondi BeacH

2007-08-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

Bondi Beach

2007-08-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

Up till now, my postings are still very much backdated..... Cos havent had the time to realli sit down n upload all the stuff..... these pix are still pretty much taken during the first month in aussie.... went to the famous bondi beach after our yummy lunch at watson's bay.... u will be surprised tt in winter, there are still lotsa of surfers ard..... but i mus sae the view was fabulous..... it's jus WOW WOW WOW!!!! sand + sea + sun.... best combination.... but it's cold.... guess will go back n bask in the sun in spring / summer..... fine white sand plus clear blue sea... so pretty!!!!

Makan Time Again

2007-08-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

The real "motive" behind going Watson's Bay is actually to try the famous fish n chips over there.... And tt'z so typical Singaporean... To go where the good food are.... Haha.. We heard from a local that they have real good fishs and chips over at Watson's Bay...... And we were not disappointed.... Look at the yummy fishs and chips.... The fish just "melts" in the mouth.... Yummy Yummy!!!!

Watson's Bay - Rest and Relax!!!

2007-08-11T07:33:00.001-07:00

Sun + Sea + Seagull

2007-08-11T03:29:00.000-07:00

Watson's Bay - nice place to just lie on the grass and relax.... n thr's yummy fish and chips thr as well....

Cheap n Good~!~!

2007-08-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

First Cooking Attempts!!!

2007-08-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

My BeD

2007-08-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

My Hotel Room!!!

2007-08-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Quantas Airport

2007-08-04T22:56:00.000-07:00

Am at the quantas airport waiting to board the plane... will be heading towards Mildura (somehwr near melb) for an assignment.... quite excited!!! cos first time flying over to client's place for an assignment... but think i will miss mi hsemates.... feels quite loneli actually.... hahha.... quite grateful tt i m not in sydney alone.... attempted to post some pix while waiting but hafing problems uploading them... so shall do it next time... hee.... think i m a super good procrastinator....

The First!!!

2007-07-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Finallie set up my own blog!!!! Haha... Actuallie it's quite easee to set up one... Din realised it till todae... Just fill in a couple of info den it's done... Was actualli motivated to set up one tonite cos jus now on the way home after dinner den realised tt i dun realli rem wat i did last wkend... So decided to set up a blog to post my stuff soon b4 i start to forget things... HeeZ~~ Will try to keep this blog updated.... And hope i dun bore ppl with stuff i post here... HeeZ~~ So keep a lookout for my next posting with pix!!!!