Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Always on my mind (Sydney 2006 Part 4)

Maybe I didn't treat you Quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didn't love you Quite as often as I could have

I was on my own today. When I woke up Winnie had already gone for work. I had a feeling that it was gonna be a great day.

Walking down Pitt St (I think? No?) I got to Circular Quay. Hey the coffee was quite cheap. It was only $2.70 for a small. Remember what W & D had told me before, I realised that it was actually as easy as they had suggested, to walk around on my own.

After purchasing my day tripper (like a daily ticket in Melbourne/Vic), I seized the time to snap a few pics of the Opera House. Something so magnificient and so iconically Australian. And a few weeks ago the fourth Australian Idol, Damien Leith, had just been crowned at this very theatre.

Quite tight on time, I hurried up back to the Quay and hopped onto a ferry which would then get me to
Manly Beach. While on the ferry bracing the wind & sun, I realised I hadn't put on sunblock on my pretty face. Oopsie. But wth. I totally dug Manly Beach big time. It may not be as hyped as Bondi
, but the 2 hours that I was there felt so relaxing.

After parting with Manly, I was back in the CBD for more. Oxford St here I come! I wish I had time to go to Paddington as well. I was quite stupid actually =) that I only walked half the stretch of Oxford Street. I really stopped and turned around at the end of the map as I thought "oh that must be the end of it because the map doesn't show anymore of it". It'd be great if I was more loaded in the bank account...Window shopping was kinda nice too. Wanted to buy a pair of swim trunks with "aussie boi" printed on the back but those wouldn't really suit me would they?

Talking about shopping - Edmund & Winnie you guys are right. Well I am just a kampungboi from small small Tanah Merah. I really loved everything on Market St to George St to Martin Place to QVB. Those shopping complexes are so unique and no matter where I turned there would be something unexpected for me to look at.

High tea @ the
TeaRoom with Winnie was another great experience. The room was in the middle of the CBD and it could filter the filthiest soul (so to speak) to a peaceful one. I felt very Queen-ish with all the gold-foiled china and everything was just very proper.

Saying goodbye was not easy and luckily I didn't turn over as my eyes were moist and nose feeling all funny. All I can say is
Thank You.

As you can see from my pics, as a result of my big fly-eye like sunnies, now my face is a black-&-white sheet. I think the tanline is still quite visible after a few days. I think it's a kool thing - I love being made-up without actual make-up.

Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time

I will survive (Sydney 2006 Part 3)

First I was afraid I was petrified


I've got all my life to live I've got all my love to give and I'll survive I will survive

I love the nightlife (Sydney 2006 Part 2)

Please don't talk about love tonight
Please don't talk about sweet love
Please don't talk about being true


Waking up was quite a task as we only had 5-6 hours of shut eyes. First stop we went to Jamberoo to take a peek at the rain forest. It's an irony that despite being borned in Malaysia and rain forest would be so accessible, this was my first time going to a rainforest national park. I think Australia is good in this area where people don't have to drive half a day just to get away from the CBD.

After 上山 (going up mountains), we 下海 (going down to the sea). Next was Jervis Bay. Btw it was the first time where I came in touch with a GPS. It's so useful and smart. If not for the sometimes-not-so-up-to-date new routes which then gave us funny and going-in-a-loop directions, I'd say I fully embrace it. And thanks to it, I think my next trips going around Vic when my parents are here won't be too hard.

The most fascinating encounter - seeing dolphins swimming in the wild. I don't think I caught it on camera, but it was overwhelming when I was the baby dolphin swimming next to its Mom. Next time - WHALE!

Going back to city in a flash? We very well would love that. But as soon as we got back in the city, the traffic was just inching. We were just tortoising at 7.15pm. The Prisiclla musical was starting at 8pm and we were still no where near Star City and we hadn't had dinna yet. As the minutes passed, Winnie decided to go against the direction given by the GPS and we did get away from the traffic. Boi coming out from the crocodile's mouth we went straight into a tiger's den. There was no parking and we were desperate and hungry.

So this desperate boi was dropped off at Lyric Theatre to grab the tickets and Win-girl and Den-boy went looking for a place to park (which I later appreciated them running the whole nine yard in a matter of minutes). We were seated in a very good row where it's in the middle but it's only a short row. There wasn't any seat next to us too.

When Priscilla Queen of the Desert Musical started, I was sent waves and waves of excitement and dance beats. From What's love got to do with it to I love the nightlife to Always on my mind to I will survive. Everyone was cheering and clapping the whole show. Dennis said he heard me singing along too. I couldn't help it. They were all music to my dancing-queen heart. In addition to catchy tunes, first class drag queens and colourful outfit, there were scenes of love and family too. I loved the standing ovation - it was very very touching. The finale of the show was another touch-down. I can't what it is here in order not to spoil it. My eyes were wet watching it.

Throughout the whole day, I think we were also desperate for food. Starting from take-away McDonald to no-time-for-lunch-so-we-had-some-best-beef-&-mushroom-pies-in-the-middle-of-no-where to rushing to a chinese restaurant during intermission of the show. We managed to swallow a 烧肉饭 (Roast pork on rice), 云吞面 (Noodles with wonton) and 饺子 (dumplings) in less than 10 minutes. I'll definitely remember that, our WAD days.

I got to go where the people dance I want some action ... I want to live!

What’s love got to do with (Sydney 2006 Part 1)

Oh whats love got to do, got to do with it
What`s love but a second hand emotion

Flying with Virginblue started with an unfamiliar procedure where I self-checked in myself and later just dropped off my luggage at the normal check-in counter. I loved that concept which saves me from going to the airport much earlier. Mind you I was flying at 0645 and I hat to wake up at 0415. We glided into the air higher above and soon beautiful Sydney was in view.

It was warm to see a familiar face coming on the pick-up lane on a cloudy cool Sydney morning. Winnie was coming in with a white car and off we went to Bondi Beach. It was a great kick-start to the trip when I received a sms from Cheryl saying that I had got the exemption for APC (Actuarial Practice & Control). Woo hoo! I hadn’t checked because I didn’t want it to spoil my holiday in case it went the other way. I believe I wore a grin on my face for the rest of the day.

The visit to the Vaucluse House took longer than we had expected. We had a very good guide Maria. We learned that the owner of the house William Charles Wentworth was almost a forefather to the development of Sydney. His contribution included development of the agricultural lands and University of Sydney. Not judging a book by its cover – he and Mrs. Wentworth were both descendents of convicts from England.

Next was the time for us to tend to a couple of hungry tummies with seafood. Yum yum I love seafood. After feasting on prawns, scallops, calamari, baby octopus, fish and oysters, we moved on to visit the Old Parliament House.

Did I mention that I brought good weather from Melbourne to Sydney? The weather was just so travel-suitable with the perfect amount of sunshine, cloud and wind.

After taking a short nap at Winnie’s apartment, Dennis met up with us and we went to Newtown for dinna. Another manifestation of the world’s highest selling movie – Thai Ta Nic – as the name of a, what else, Thai restaurant.

What`s love got to do, got to do with it
What`s love but a sweet old fashioned not

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

same but so different

Something terrible happened in Malaysia a few days ago. Gambler parents, who were in so much debt, killed their 3 boys by feeding them with bleach and cooking gas (reports here, here, and here), as the loan sharks threathened to take further actions against the family. Young innocent children of ages 8, 10 & 12, killed by own parents. How will the parents live after that? I am pained by such tragedy, such inhuman thing.

Similar thing happened to a young American girl who got pregnant when she was 16. Her family didn't know about her pregnancy at all, even after she gave birth to a still-born (she claimed) at home. Carrying the baby from the toilet to her room, she passed out due to massive blood loss. When she came to, she realised that she'd been lying on top of her baby. She then nailed the coffin by stabbing the baby with a knife.

And on Oprah today, an African girl from Sierra Leano was adopted by a Sierra Leano couple in the US 6 years ago. She doesn't have a hand. When she was back in Sierra Leano, a country which has constantly been in civil wars. When Damba was 5 years old, her tiny village was attacked by rebels. During the chaos, two men raped Damba and chopped off her hand. Damba's mother, Fina, pleaded for them to let her daughter go. In response, the rebels forced Fina to the ground and chopped off her hand, too. She then carried her daughter on her back, walking for 3 days to get to a hospital. The daughter hadn't seen her Mom until today, after being adopted. When they met I just broke down. (A Mother's Love, here)

I really don't know wot to make of my messy emotions right now. I think I just wanna thank my parents for bringing me up the way they did. 虎毒不食儿 (even a tigeress, which is supposedly cruel/carnivorous, doesn't eat her own cubs) - and there are parents who kill their own children.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Men's BFF





They are so cute!!! I miss my dogs at home!! I saw a puppy playing by itself while walking home from work last Mon. It was at a park. There was an Asian and supposedly-should-be-getting-a-room couple making out on the bench at 4 in the afternoon. I think that puppy belonged to them. I was carrying my man-bag that time and I guess it was big enough to do an ocean-11 job. I looked at the dog and waved at him/her. Then I made those sounds to entice him "tschuk tschuk tschuk", signaling him/her to follow me. And s/he did!!! S/he followed me for a meter or so and I think the couple just didn't wot was going on except the activity in their mouths. I was so tempted to just grab the puppy and run home. The way s/he ran just made me wanna cuddle him/her and play with him/her.
Awww...Only if I had a bolder lion heart.

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