20 weeks in Sydney

Final Week of School!

2008-06-03T14:01:00.004+10:00

Here are all the pics of sandboarding abt 1 wk plus ago. It was fun! haha.

Okie, guess i wun be updating for some time le, exam coming soon. haha. I know ntu pple getting back results in 2 days. haha gd luck to everyone! =)

8 more weeks here!

2008-05-22T23:25:00.003+10:00

haha, haven been writing for the past 3 weeks. have been busy with sch lah, assignments, tests, reports etc. suddenly so many things sia haha. actually noting much happen these few wks also, plus of course im lazy to update lah haha.

anway, time flies... left 8 more wks in sydney le. hmm actually its oso abt time lah, i abit homesick liao oready haha.

went to canberra on 9th may and stayed there for 1 night. in case all of u duno, canberra is the capital of australia, not sydney or melbourne, as often mistaken by many pple haha. hmm canberra is really a small place, nothing much, the city is jux like hmm the size of toa payoh maybe? haha. n the main thing there is the parliament house and museum. omg, cant believe i actually went to these 2 places. i nv go to spore's museum before lah i think (or maybe got go with sch before lah but i dun remember at all haha). but the lake there, lake burley, was not bad, nice scenery. probably the best thing in canberra haha. it was damn boring at night also, in the end we went to watch a movie there at night hahaha. made of honour. not a bad movie.

lake burley. nice.

museum. boring haha.

evening view of the lake. i think its really nice

parliament house. hmm on the day we went, it was jux nice the 20th anniversary of this new parliament house, so get to tour inside, got to see the prime minister's office oso. but still, really, nothing fantastic or interesting haha. the view frm outside is not bad though.

never really go anywhere after canberra, cept mayb to the city a couple of times. hav been watching a few movies here though, like iron man, made of honour as mentioned, and 21.

harbour bridge at night

opera house at night. i wish my camera was better. haha cant really take nice pictures of the night view of the bridge and opera house.

hmm that's abt it le haha. exams coming in 3 wks, so wun really do much (though theres still a whale watching and sand boarding event coming on sat, and an end of semester party on 30th may) and wun really post much. i noe i only nd to pass lah, but now really hav problems passing, so erm nd to start a bit. haha and also coz nd to do well for survival models lah.

exams ending on 20th june. hope the day come asap. haha. anyway, every1 shld finish exam le rite, cept for SIM pple haha. for those having holiday, enjoy ur holiday! for those in attachment, enjoy ur work! for those doing projects, enjoy ur projects! and for those still having exams, gd luck! =)

2 Weeks Break! (final part)

2008-05-04T20:41:00.007+10:00

Ok, finally at the last part of the trip.

Went to Hobart, Tasmania for the final few days of the holiday, and i tot it was the best part of the whole trip. Probably fraser island will be as good as this if it hadn't rain so much haha.

I arrived there around mid day on tue, then spend the whole day relaxing, walking around the city and planning for the next day coz joe only reaching at night. so in the end we decided to go huon valley the next day, to do some bushwalking and see scenery. and we decided not to book any tour coz it was quite ex and we tot we can walk ourselves. we were so wrong. huon is such a small town that transport around the area is almost impossible without a car. there is only a bus frm hobart to huon at limited times of the day, and frm there, it is impossible to get to those places of attractions like the caves, mountains etc without a car or following a tour.

so we were like stuck at huon, go to the information centre oso not much use coz not much they can help haha. in the end we look for the nearest mountain frm there and took a cab there. hai, but then the taxi driver seem to drop us at the wrong place, and we ended up walking like 8km frm the place she drop us to the foot of the mountain lol. siong sia. the mountain is called mount misery, and its like a place for pple to go there relac lah, there are like campsites or houses built there for pple to rent for a few days. anyway, we climbed the mountain, and back down in like 2 hrs haha which is a bit shorter than the amt of time we walk there. nice.

the next day, we were back in hobart in the morning and went to a brewery tour in the afternoon. cascade brewery, the oldest brewery in australia haha. not a bad tour lah, then still got some free drinks. ohh and we ate lunch there too. joe ordered wallaby meat lol. actually it looked and taste like pork leg lah, hahaha we wun noe even if its not wallaby meat. so by the time it ended it was around 4 le, we just go n walk around the city and went back to hostel le. my day actually ended very early for the whole trip lah hahanothing much to do at night sia.

on fri, we went to mount wellington, its like a must go place if we are at hobart. tallest mountain in hobart. and we paid for transport up to the mountain. thank god we did that, coz as we walked down (took 2 hours), we are sure we would not be able to make it up if we had decided to walk up hahaha. the scnery was beautiful lah, but too bad its a little foggy. and its damn cold and windy!!!! luckily i prepared my jumper man haha.

finally, on sat, it was to salamanca market. this market only opens on sat, but its really like a bigger pasa malam, and it sells a bit better things than pasa malam haha. still, there are things to shop lah so not too bad.

and that marks the end of my holiday haha. came back to sydney early in the morning on sunday. its a long break, but after looking back i find that a lot of time has been spend waiting and also slping lol.

took this in the bus on the way to my hostel in hobart city

hobart is a small city, but i think its quite a nice place, though it can be really boring at night

2nd day at huon, this is where the taxi drop us haha, a long walk awaits...

basically we walk on this kind of road for 8km, many cars drove by lah, but we din dare to stop them to ask for a ride haha

on the way to the top of mount misery

at the top. the view shld be nice if not for the fog lah.

cascade brewery tour on the 2nd day. i find it stupid that they ask us to wear the yellow vest thruout the tour haha

this is where the beer is femented

the view inside

this is where they process the bottles before its ready for sale

the building, has a long history, but i din pay much attention when the guy is toking haha

wallaby meat~!

evening scene at hobart. nice.

at the top of mount wellington. again, it is foggy. sad man haha

salamancan market

caught this while i was walking at the market. the mountain at the background is wellington

took this for fun hahaha. very surprised to see a proton... in australia! omg

2 Weeks Break! (continued)

2008-05-02T20:36:00.005+10:00

After going back to Hervey Bay from fraser island in the evening on friday, joe and i waited til like abt 1.30am to catch a bus to sufer's paradise, gold coast. Spent the next 3 days 2 nights there. Well, i would say it's not the best part of the trip there haha. On the 1st day, we went to harbour town, a place with many direct factory outlets, to shop. Bought a polo t for myself there.

Then on the 2nd day and 3rd day, i went to 2 theme parks while he went surfing, coz he was not interested to go to the theme parks haha. but to me gold coast is famous for their theme parks lah, so i really wanted to go take a look. there were quite a number to choose frm, i chose movie world and sea world, which is a super bad choice considering im going alone haha

Both places are like very family oriented, very suitable for kids, or for like couples. And the rides were.. erm.. not very gd too, most dun look exciting at all manz lol, onli like 1 or 2 good ones. so on the 1st day at movie world, i spent most of time time looking around, shopping for things, and watching some of the shows there.

The sea world was even worse than movie world, they have a whole sesame street themed area for kids. omg. the only thing i really enjoyed there was the dolphin show, which was really gd. there are like a water park there, with some slides, but think wild wild wet in spore has better ones lol. haha so for pple going to gold coast, if u are looking for nice and exciting rides, pls go to dream world, and probably wild and wet (not exactly sure abt the name, its just beside dream world i think). for those gonig with family, with kids, movie world and sea world will be the ones for u haha.

one of the shows i watched at movie world, police academy, not too bad, got quite a few stunts.

the ride i took at movie world. think its the best 1 there haha. but waited 45 mins just to take it manz

the dolphin show, nice. mayb coz i like dolphins, so i enjoyed it a lot, took a few videos of the show too.

the ride i took at sea world, not scary 1 haha

another show i saw at sea world. not too bad oso.

haha so that's abt it for the 2nd part of my trip le bah i guess. not the best part of my trip, but not too bad too lah, at least able to see how the theme parks are like there, watch some nice shows and get to shop for some souvenirs (erm.. for family de hahaha).

2 Weeks Break!

2008-05-01T21:16:00.007+10:00

1st of all, congrats to all who have finished their exam! time for a long holiday le, cept those going attachment haha

Was back frm my holiday on sunday morning, then have to study for test on wed haha, think enjoying too much liao. test cui.

Anyway, I took many many photos during the 2 wks, and im really lazy to post everything at 1 go, so gona do it part by part haha. For the 1st part of the trip, I went to fraser island, which is a few hours up north of brisbane and the most sandy island in the world. din really do anything in brisbane coz heard there is nothing much to do.

It was a good trip there, and would have been much better had it not rain for the whole 3 days I'm there. Joe and I went on a 3 day 2 night self drive tour, and were grouped together with 9 other pple. bascically wat we were given was a 4WD(4 wheel drive) vehicle, a map, suggested itenary in the island, camping equipments etc etc. a few rep frm each grp also had to go help buy alcohol and food the the whole grp for the 3 days. the tour was $150, but on top of that still have to pay a $55 fuel and duno wat cost, fork out $20 for food, and watever money for alcohol depending on how much u wan. So its actually not as cheap as i 1st tot man haha

So after some briefing, watch so safety videos, do some admin stuff, we are off to the island!

on the way to the ferry terminal, there were a total of 4 grps of 11 pple on that day

off to the island!

It is really a nice island, nice beaches, nice scenery, and of course, could have been better if the sky was more clear.

our 1st stop

walking towards the lake after stopping our 4WD by the beach

the lake was really nice. water was so clear haha

theres like a sand dune, quite steep to climb to the top. unfortunately it had been raining, the sand was not soft, if it was, it would be fun to slide down frm the top i guess haha

this is the scenery at the top of the sand dune. shag to climb up man haha

its hard to see how steep it is frm here, really quite steep lah.

took another route back to our 4WD, walk quite a distance on the beach. nice walk though.

lunchtime! basically our lunch for the nx 3 days was sandwich. haha it was really windy at that time man, quite hard to take everything down n prepare the stuff.

this is 1 of the disapoointing stuff lah. on the itenary it said something like coloured sands, say wat different layers different colours, very nice. omg, it was jux ermm sand colour to me lor hahaha

so at abt 4pm on the 1st day, we went to the campsite and pitch our tents. 3-4 pple per tent, quite spacious.

at the campsite there are places for us to cook dinner, but theres like quite a stupid rule, lights out at 9pm, no noise after 9pm coz there are other private campers around. ridiculous man haha. but anyway, most pple dun care, when lights are out at 9pm, we on our torch haha.

our grp pple preparing dinner.. i was not of much help though lol. if i remembered correctly we had steak for 1st night and pasta and hambuger on the 2nd. actually although it look very dark on the background, it was only like 6pm lor, quite sucky for the darkness to fall so early. so its like after dinner all we could do was just stay around and talk cok.

part of my grp! some of them are really power drinkers. beer is part of their life haha.

this is taken at our 1st stop on the 2nd day morning.

Joe and I at the top of the cliff. real nice scnery on top.

our 2nd stop. its actually at a place where part of the sea is surrounded by rocks, so considered a safe place to swim. but the waves are really power, and the water was cold. only the swedish gals in my grp went to swim there. they say this is nothing to them haha.

on the 1st day it was a windy lunch, 2nd day it was a rainy lunch haha.

2nd day night. we were done at like abt 4pm also on the 2nd day haha, so as usual, had an early dinner and tok cok. actually for both days, i slpt quite early lah, really nothing much to do man

finally, on the 3rd n last day, we went to see 2 more lakes before heading for the ferry terminal.

Dingos! dogs that live in the island. they seem to be famous, pple are excited when they see dingos, but to me there are jux another type of dogs lol

final destination before we head back. lake mckenkie (think spelling is wrong haha). its 1 of the most popular attraction in fraser. many pple go there to swim etc.

a beautiful lake too.

bascially this sums up our trip. there are 3 canadians, 2 swedish, 3 swiss, 1 aussie, 1 american (joe) and me in the grp. not bad to know different pple frm differenet countries, and they are really nice and fun loving pple. hmmm but i tot i might have enjoyed it more if i had go with pple i noe lah, mayb will be more fun haha.

yeah, so tats abt it for the 1st part of the trip. will post more tmr! =)

Week 8

2008-04-14T21:34:00.007+10:00

Time flies, 8 weeks gone and into the 9th week here already haha.

Anway, here are some pictures taken at wine tour, all take from Laiyin, luckily some still have me inside haha.

me, joe and laiyin at the 1st winery

abt 60 of us went for the went tour.

went to taste the red wine again, since its free haha

scenery outside hunter valley. i took a lot more on my camera, hai.

2nd winery we went to, i bought 2 bottles of wine from here! it was really cheap and good!

wine tasting againn, quite shiok, paid $55, went to 3 winery and 1 beer brewery

michael (frm hk), laiyin, me and joe tasting the wine. i was already a bit giddy by then hahaha

ok lah, at least still have some pictures with me now to remember haha.

For this week, did nothing much during the weekdays, had my strategic management mid term test on thurs. I was quite surprised at how serious they are for a mid term haha. There were like 3 booklets, 1 question, 1 essay answer, 1 OAS... and even had to show student card! omg, all for just 10%. very bo liao. anyway, the test shld be easy to pass lah, but hard to score hahah, that's y i take it here lol.

So the only day I went out this week was on sat, Wentworth Falls Bushwalk (at Blue Mountains National Park). For those who dun noe wat bushwalk is, it is just another term for hiking, or trekking haha. It is organised by the bushwalking club in Macquarie Uni and the best thing is its free! Only had to pay for the transport there.

The whole walk was like an 8km loop, and it was supposed to be a medium hard walk. Have to walk all the way down the mountian, den up again. It was really a very nice, yet tiring walk... enjoy the photos bah, think the scenery was not bad.

took this at the beginning of the walk, when we were at the top.

Aldo (mexican), me and michael

yeah this was near the start of the walk too, when everyone was still energetic haha

Lunch time, it was abt 1/3 into the walk, every1 was quite tired already, but the worst is yet to come... we were still like on the way down... haha

This is the waterfall at the bottom. It was not bad.. but I think I have seen nicer ones when I went to nz, long long time ago haha.

2/3 into the walk, everyone was shag.. but the worst thing is.. we still have to go back all the way up...

yeah it's like we were right at the bottom, and had to walk back up. Seriously, towards the end, I was really dragging my feet le hahaha maybe coz i nv exercise much

Took this when we were abt to reach back the top. I think its quite nice. Notice that the mountains look blue, that's y the place is called blue mountains haha

I like this picture too, like the background.

Yupp, I really enjoyed the walk, hopefully have the chance to go for more. =)

Anway, after sat, for the past 2 days, I have been trying to finish up my assignments, even though the next 2 weeks is mid semester break. Coz... I'm gonig to travel to Brisbane, Gold Coast and Tasmania until the end of holidays! So will not be posting again until I'm back! hopefully i wun be too lazy to post lah ater tat, coz there will be surely lots of pictures! lol

And I know everyone in spore is going to have exams soon (esp ntu students, who are having exam during my break lol), so while u are studying hard and feeling stressed, just remember that there is a fren of urs enjoying the australia sun out there!!! mayb u will feel better~~~ wahahahhahahaa

Everyone, jia you and good luck! =)

Anway, good luck for exams everyone!

Weeks 6 & 7

2008-04-07T13:40:00.009+10:00

ok, long overdue entry... wanted to do it on Saturday, but... i realise, i accidentally deleted ALL my wine tour photos the week before... and i only found out like 1 week later... haha damn sian.

Backtrack to Wed 26th bah, went to the easter show, it's an annual big event in Sydney lah, and it runs for like 2 weeks at the Sydney Olympic park. Lots of things inside, rides, bazaars, shows, etc etc, a nice family event. I went in after 5 coz it's cheaper and i was only interested to see some of the shows in the evening (the rides are too ex lah i feel it's not worth it haha)

Olympic Stadium

Entrance at the Easter Show

Saw a Polo match for the 1st time, 3 v 3, it was nice and exciting to watch!

Bull Riding! 1 of the shows I was looking forward to, and it surely did not disappoint manz, haha.

I think the idea is to ride on the bull for like 8-10 secs, and with minimal distance frm where they are released. Many of them can't last for 5 seconds though lol.

After Bull riding, there were some stun performances at the arena

The 1st 1, something familiar lah, so not too impressive for me haha

this is nice, the car went on 2 wheels for 1 round around the track. cool.

And lastly, the bikes flying across the rams. Photos not taken very well haha

Fireworks was the finale, took a few pics only, then the for the rest of it I took a video haha, it lasts for abt 10-15 mins, very nice. =)

On Friday that same week, I went to the wine tour, it was superb, and cheap too, bought 2 bottles of wine... WHY DID I DELETE ALL THE PHOTOSSSSSS RARRRRR. Think gona get a few pics frm my frens who went, if got nice ones I will post the next time bah.

Then, on Sunday, it was the Opera House tour. Never really take a lot of photos, because they dun allow us to take inside the theatres, and there was nothing much outside lah haha. Main thing is tour around the place, and get to know abt the history of the opera house. Price is aud25, inclusive of a free drink, which is suppose to be a good deal and discounted price, but I still feel its quite expensive, coz it was only a 1 hour tour. So I wun really recommend that for those who are coming Sydney for holiday man haha. U can always find out abt the history of the opera house online, and if want to take a look at the theatres, go buy a ticket for a show lah haha, it will be more worth it.

The whole group of us walking to the Opera House (I seriously duno any one of the pple haha)

the 2nd largest theatre of the opera house. the biggest 1 is the concert 1.

Just some random photos, saw pple take, so i take haha.

For last week, I mainly stayed at home to do work, coz got a few online quizzes, an assginment and a test coming up haha. But still very relac lah, never felt so relac before in uni haha. Anyway, on Sunday, I went to the FlugTag, which is the 1st held in Sydney. I din even know anything abt it, my housemates are the ones telling me that theres this big event and its a must go event, so i went with them. haha, and indeed, it was amazing. For thise sua gu like me also duno wat the flugtag is, u can google it to find out more. Basically it's a german word, which means "flying day". So on this day the contestant will make their flying objects and take off frm a ram 6m above water, and see how far they can "fly". haha something like that. And before they take off, they are supposed to have a mini performance with their own selected music. Think they are judged on the deisgn, creativity and the distance they fly.

Oh, yeah and it's obviously sponsored by red bull. The world record so far is 60m, set in Austria. haha but the best the contestants can manage yesterday was only like 18plus m lol.

Very large crowd, more than the Mardi Gras. They say got abt 50,000 pple

One of the 1st contestants, a failure though, it plunge straight down to the water hahaha

This is 1 of my favourites, not sure whether u can see it clearly, but its a mini cooper hahaha, and the performance before they jump was not bad.

This is the one which flew the furthest haha

Another hilarious one haha. Pig.

This 1 was not bad too i think, it dun look like it can fly, but it did better than many which just plunge straight down to the water haha

This was the emcee's favourite... but... it was cui, went str down into the water

The last few photos u see are taken from the net, coz I din manage to take very close up photos, so thought I can find some online for u guys to see.

Week 5

2008-03-25T23:57:00.002+11:00

Week 5 was easter week, but i din do much. haha can see from the number of photos.

Went to the club exchange event on thursday nite, pub crawl, basically jux went to abt 3-4 different pubs in the city through the nite. haha it was ok lah, though i was not exactly a pub person.

Laiyin, Abby, Joe, me

had a game of pool with joe. it was ex! 3 bucks. but we were bored lah haha

erm, then on Sat, went to a club party organised by spore student association of UNSW. haha again, im not exactly a club person, so it was ok lah. doesn't feel like im in australia though, everyone around me was frm spore! haha

new fren, shiv, oready met him at the bbq a few wks ago.

ok, this is a damn short entry, nothing much to say haha. hav to start catching up a bit on sch work, assignments coming uppppp. lol.

but got quite a number of programs coming up the next few days! hahaha gona go easter show tml, wine tour on fri, and sydney opera house tour on sun!

Week 4 in Sydney

2008-03-19T23:16:00.007+11:00

haha, its been more than a week. Have been busy and lazy lah so keep procrastinating.

Let me recall what I did last week. Actually not much also. As usual I went out on Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, I went to the zoo with some frens frm Mexico and Germany. Not exactly very very interested to go lah, but was thinking can look forward to seeing some koalas and wallabies lah. Hai, did see some lah, but coz we went there at 2plus, all the animal shows are over le, and then the animals mostly seem so dead, and then the koalas are all slping. And it cost $30 (inclusive of ferry ride to the zoo). If wan to come in contact with the koalas and take ONE photo, still hav to pay like 16 bucks! damn ex, so I decided against it.

The ferry ride was good. Took a nice pictire of harbour bridge

Had a pic with the opera house as background too

This is taken near the entrance of the zoo, was looking forward to do that with a real koala lah but.. haha

See what I mean by the animals look dead. haha mostly slping

That's the best shot I have at a Koala, all I have seen are slping, including this, it seems to be switching position to slp haha

Theres a Koala in the background, duno whether u guys can see a not lol

Then at night, we went to a pub at darling harbour, but nv take photos leh ahha , lazy lah. Only took one.

Nite view of Darling Harbour is nice. Shall take more pics of it soon.

Sat was a long day. Morning I went to UNSW's Singapore Student Association's bbq, meant for the freshmen frm Singapore. First time in a few weeks I see so many sporeans sia, I've never been so happy to hear pple speak Singlish sia lol. Wanted to take out camera and take picture lah, but duno almost everyone there, and no 1 was taking hahaha, so in the end din. Anyway, the place was at Coogee beach and I did take a few pics of the beach when I walked around. Another nice beach.

View from the top of the cliff.

The beach

At the top of the cliff. Stand up there to enjoy the breeze is damn shiok lah haha

Then, in the evening, it was to Megan's 21st birthday celebration. She invited about 20 odd pple to dinner, den go to a bar for a drink, then club. Was quite tired after the bar le so nv go clubbing, anyway I also dun like clubbing lah so can save 25bucks haha.

The funniest thing of the day is once we got up the bus to the city (there were abt 9 of us then), they took out party hats and distribute to everyone to wear immediately. "wear now~~!!" omg, wearing a party hat in a bus to the city (abt 40mins journey) and then walk for abt 10 mins to the pancake restaurant, all these with our party hats on! NICE. Everyone was looking at us, but apparently they enjoyed it. weird. haha

And Joe (my other housemate) was like telling me, "pls dun get the impression that all Americans do that. tats a wrong impression!" wahahahaha I think he can read my mind, coz I was really thinking of putting down something like "Americans do have a unique way of celebrating bdays". lol.

That's the spread on the table. Din manage to take all the food though. Oh, the restaurant is called pancakes on the rocks lah, apparently famous for its pancakes.

That's mine. Blueberry Heaven I think. Seriously, not fantastic leh, machiam a thicker version of mac hotcake with ice cream on top and blueberry beside. haha but its damn filling lah, though its ex too, abt 11bucks i think

That's all of us at the dinner, I'm right at the back. yeah, with our party hats~! the guy infront is Joe, haha.

Nicole, Lucie, Amanda and me.

Group photo outside the restaurant.

Yeah, that's about what happen last week. haha and just wan to end by saying I think my cooking has improved! hahahaha but lazy to take pics everytime i cook le lah, and its really a time consuming job. lol. but for the sake of saving money and eating home cooked food, I shall continue to cook... =)

Vege, seems ok right, taste gd too~ hahahaha

Potato and Carrot soup~~~

I Cooked!

2008-03-11T21:08:00.003+11:00

Ok, this entry may be a bit boring, but its a significant one for myself. Today I cooked. Yeah, for the first time in my life! hahahaha

Never tot I will cook lah except for maybe instant noodles. But bo bian, have to save money and also feel like eating home cooked food. Bought some chicken, vege(choy cum), mushroom and rice at the supermarket yesterday. So here goes..

Marinated the chicken with oyster sauce, sesame oil and light soy sauce, duno whether this combi works a not lah when i did that, but those are the sauces i bought, so anyhow hantam in wahhahaa. And I spend quite some time trying to derost the chicken. hahaa

Vege and mushroom before cooking.

Theres no rice cooker, so I had to make do with this. Luckily the instructions at the rice packet got teach how to cook rice using the stove hahaha. This is the end product, looks not bad lah hor lol

Next will be frying the chicken. It was one hell of a task. Initially i think i put too much oil, before put in the chicken the oil started to splatter out oready, damn scary lah. In the end have to pour awayabit of the oil, then put the chicken in. And it takes like damn long to be cooked lah, seems cooked on the surface, but inside was not cooked manz. In the end I have to keep using fork to poke it to make sure its cooked. lol

The final product. Dun be deceived. It doesn't look good not because my cooking cui, but coz my photo taking skill cui. wahahhhaha

Did not take photo while I cook the vege and mushroom lah, but heres the final product. Vege is a bit too oily manz, hahaha nx time mux put less oil. This portion is enough for my lunch and dinner today. Looks ok lah hor haha.

My lunch. Edible lah, taste ok too. hahaha but the kitchen was in a mess lah lol shld have taken some picture for u all to see. hahaha. Most sian thing is to have to clean up after I eat. sux man.

Yeah, so that's my 1st attempt on cooking. More to come, and hopefully, it gets better.

Week 3 in Sydney

2008-03-11T20:07:00.003+11:00

Ok, It's been a while haha so here I come again.

Anyway, nothing much last week. Monday do tutorial, Tue-Thu attend lessons, still hate that Strategic Management on Thurs, coz it was like too interactive sia, anytime the tutor will just shoot anyone a question. Have to be super attentive to catch her english haha.

Then on my birthday on Friday, I went back to the fish market to eat sashimi and seafood! shiok lah the food hahaha. Went with Charlene and her friend Nic there this time.

This is where we ate. Not bad, can enjoy viewing the yacht while eating, though my eyes are mostly on the food lah hahaha.

This is the seafood platter! Nice =)

Salmon Sashimi. Superb. And its cheap! Cost about AU$8, 200g. A lot cheaper than eating in sushi tei! =)

More sashimi!

Scallop! Very fresh and nice, haha only remember to take picture of it when theres 2 left.

Forget to take the prawns, at the top right of the pic. about 300g of them. Very fresh too, reminds me of the kelong days. shiok

That's me enjoying the oysters. Its really fresh too, the person like just washed and open the shell lah. But I feel its a bit small, smaller than those at pariss and vienna international buffet haha.

After having lunch (I will for sure visit the fish market again haha), I went to meet my auntie and stayed at her place over the weekend. She lives near Hurstville with her grandma and my little cousin. Heard from her that this is like the 2nd Chinatown of Sydney, where many chinese live. Quite true lah, I do see chinese everywhere, and a lot of the shops along the street are opened by chinese. And things there are cheaper too haha.

My little cousin, Zheng Yen (we call him Yen Yen), was like super excited to see me lah hahaha, probably coz normally no one visits him (my uncle and his brothers are in China coz my uncle's biz is there). Yupp so when I reach at 5plus on Friday, he just keeps toking to me lah, tok tok tok tok non stop sia until he slp at 10pm. lol.

On Sat, my auntie brought me and yen yen to hurstville for lunch and I walked around a bit. And that's bascically my weekend lah. haha nothing much really, mostly slack at her house. But one gd thing is I got to eat home cooked food and drink soup for 2 nites! Miss that manz haha.

Yeah, this is Hurstville, not a very good picture, just showing a small part of it

My auntie's house, living room

And this is yen yen!! Hes the reason why I did not take many pictures! coz I was really scared he snatch the camera from me! hahaha so have to take all these pictures while hes slping or not around! btw, he slpt at 5pm on Sat! all the way to sun abt 5-6am bah. Probably too tired lah after toking to me for so long hahaha.

Mardi Gras

2008-03-02T23:03:00.011+11:00

Sorry for posting this late, but I was kinda lazy yesterday lah haha. Anway, like I said the other time, Sat was Mardi Gras (pronounced without the"s", in case some of u duno haha).

The event was supposed to start in the evening at 7plus, but Megan suggested that we go out in the morning to walk around and reach there a few hours earlier to get a good spot. So we left at about 11 in the morning. First stop, Queen Victoria Building (QVB). Well, this is a shopping centre, equivalent to say, Taka bah haha. It's where I took my pic with Queen Victoria the other time.

Okie, next, we made our way to the famous Sydney fish market and had to pass by Darling Harbour on the way.

Hmm darling harbour was more than just what u have seen above lah, but coz tat day we wanted to get to the fish market, so onli took a few pics, and nv really explored the area. So next time go again liao then post more pics bah.

We took like 30mins to reach this place manz, haha think took the longer route. Walked 1 big round. But its worth it. Definitely worth it. The place is shiok lah, fresh seafood, fresh sashimi, reasonable price. Too bad Megan dun eat seafood lah, and its quite crowded probably coz its Sat, so we din buy anything to eat frm there. But I CONFIRM will visit this place again haha.

The sashimi is damn temptingggggggg

That's me and Megan outside the fish market.

Ok, now for the supposedly highlight of the day (at the end of the day I think I'm more excited abt the fish market than the Mardi Gras lah haha). We reached there at about 4pm after having lunch at China Town (only walked a bit there, so nv take any pics, but managed to buy 2 pirated hk drama series frm there lah hahaha), and there were like quite many pple there oready manz haha.

The crowd at 4.. 3 hrs before the event

I initially wanted to show u pple the crowd at 5,6 and 7 lah, but thinking of it I think its boring lah haha, its obvious that it gets more n more crowded lah hor lol. K lah, so basically the pictures below are all taken during the event. Actually I took quite many pics lah, take until battery flat, haha but skill not there lah, a lot were quite cui. So here are some OK ones

Some sexy ladies dancing on the street before the event started. haha

Erm in the end there were 5 of us, me, linda, nicole(i think tats wat I heard lah not very sure haha), lucy and megan. the 3 gals in the middle are from Holland.

Event not offcially started, these pple on bike are going to the starting point to get ready.

This is a nice pic I've taken I think hahaha. Think hes the only one on the bicycle showing off his butt bah haha

The pple on the motor bikes kick start the event.

A few of the women were topless lah. haha but din manage to take any pic.

Bascially, throughout the parade, the pple walk in in groups, with a vehicle in front, then a grp of pple following behind, with different themes. The people behind will dance to watever music the vehicle in front plays

Can u see what's on the banner? "Would Jesus Discriminate?"

haha. In short this whole parade is about fighting for gay and lesbian rights lah

"Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby"

the words on the vehicle read: www.gaycatholic.com.au

can go check it out if u interested. wahahaha

"Mature Age Gays"

This vehicle is by IKEA I think. The words in front of the vehicle was like "Proud Supporter of the Gay and Lesbian Community" haha

This photo is not very well taken lah, but I jux wan to put it to show that they not only bring in Jesus, even Buddha. haha

The parade just went on and on and on.... haha at about 10, we were getting bored lah, and it seems never ending. So we decided that we had enough and head back home. Think the whole thing shld end about 11plus bah, then I heard theres like a 12 hour non stop party at some place, tix is like $150 per person. haha.

Overall it's a good experience lah, nv seen this kind of thing before. But for me I think once is enough le bah hahaha.

Okie, wkend has ended, and its back to lesson time haha. Quizzes and exams nearing for all of u le rite lol. Good luck! =)

1st Week of School

2008-02-27T20:02:00.006+11:00

Sianz, sch started on Tues. Though only need to pass lah haha, but still sian to go for lessons. 3 day week for me, Tue 8am-6pm, with a 1 hr and 3 hrs break in between, Wed 9-11am, thurs 12-9pm, with 2 1hr breaks in between. haha, sux man.

To me, lessons around here are no different from Singapore, just as boring. Haha. Lectures this week have been boring and lonely coz I duno anyone there. And text books here are really ex... more than 100bucks per book! omg, definitely not gona buy them, hope there are copies at the library.

Erm.. not really a lot to write about school, cept that its like the 1st time I felt quite happy to have a proj to do for my Strategic Management module, coz that would mean I get to know more locals around. But 1 thing I hate abt the class is theres going to be a 15 min discussion of business news around the world at the start of every seminar... haha jia lat lah, for some1 like me who dun follow any news other than soccer news, I think I will be dead lol.

Anyway, went around the city today, got to see the opera house and the bridge (finally feel like I'm in Sydney ahha). Here are some photos taken

A picture with Queen Victoria. haha

That's my lunch. Food Court food, AU$10.50. nice

Special thanks to Ms Charlene Ang, my free tourguide for the day (as well as to Bondi last Sat) lol.

Well, theres also a bbq today at where I'm living, but did not take photos at all coz I leave quite early with Joe (1 of my housemates). It was quite boring lah, I'm like the only Asian around, and the Americans are like having their own cliques, so nv really get to mingle much haha.

Anway, tml's plan is to go to the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras with Megan and Linda (1 of my housemate and a neighbour). Its an annual event, something like Chingay in Singapore. Think its gona be interesting haha. Look out for photosssss in my nx entry bah.. haha to be frank I'm getting lazy to update the blog lah, really not my type of thing lol. Hopefully can last thruout my stay here bah, if not I think I will just start to post all the photos up hahaha

Bondi

2008-02-24T19:55:00.007+11:00

After 5 days, finally got to get out of North Ryde (the suburb where I'm staying at). Went to Bondi beach. haha, but its was one hell of a journey manz. I spend like abt one hour in my room trying to plan the trip, find out how to get there, in the end took the bus in the wrong direction! LOL. In the end a 1 hr journey took like abt 2 hrs hahaha.

K lah, but still manage to reach there. It was amazing manz, totally different from sentosa's siloso beach lol. I wun even call siloso beach a beach now lah hahaha. The sand was so soft, the sea was so clear, the breeze was so shiok, everything was so nice haha. the babes too, beautiful. lol.

Damn nice rite haha.

Reached there at abt 4plus and there were still so many pple. I'm really amazed at how some pple can jux sit under the sun and read books all day haha. Walked all the way to one end of the beach, which is at the left far end of the picture above.

This is taken at the top of the place. The wind there was really shiok.

Saw 2 policewomen on horses on the way back. Something I never seen before, so decide to take a photo of them. Actually saw the horse shit on the way down lol.

And Saturday was the first time I had sort of a proper nice meal since I came to Sydney. The restaurant name was called Hurricane! Famous Dish: Pork Ribs. The picture says it all haha.

I was really hungry lah, never had lunch manz lol. This meal was quite expensive. Pork Ribs (full rack): $30, Garlic Mushroom:$8, Garlic Bread:$4.50. But it was worth it! Those who are coming Sydney remember to go and try it! Its located near Bondi Beach! Just ask anyone where Hurricane is when u r there and I'm sure most of them will noe.

After dinner, walked a bit around the area to digest the food (was really full!), took a few more photos and head back home. NICE Saturday! =)

1st Week In Sydney

2008-02-23T11:51:00.003+11:00

Finally can post something up. Took damn long to get internet lah haha.

First of all, a big THANK YOU to everyone who have come down to the airport on the 17th, and all those who have msged, and thanks for all the gifts I have received. For those who requested or expected gifts when I'm back, dun expect too much, coz things here are damn ex~!! And I'm on a tight budget. lol.

Could not slp in the plane, watched the departed and the heartbreak kid there, then it was hello Sydney! Macquarie University provides this airport reception thingy whereby there will be a driver picking me up frm the airport. And there were 3 other students that day. A swiss, a chilean, and an american. On the way, the chilean guy asked me how is Singapore like. Omg, I was stunned by the question, I did not know how to ans, No 1 has asked me this qn in my life lol. I was like "erm.. erm.. Singapore? ok, not bad. hot throughout the year.." wahahah wat kind of ans was that manz.

Reached my apartment in abt an hour. My flatmates were already there when I arrived. And all of them are Americans! omg, cham liao, proper english for the next 20 weeks, hope I can survive man lol. So far its still ok lah, though sometimes I can only understand like 70-80% of wat they saying, but jux nod my head and smile haha.

Well, that's the apartment I will be staying in for the next 20 weeks, not too bad, mostly carpeted, got bath tub, dishwasher, microwave, oven, stove, fridge etc etc, but sill think it's too ex lah. aud200 a WEEK is really ridiculous haha.

My first week in Sydney was quite boring. Was just hanging around the university and the shopping center nearby. And food here is super ex! 500ml coke cost AU$2.85!!!! kaoz. I think subway and burger king (they call it "hungry jack's" here, but i recognise the logo and the menu haha) will be my good fren for the bulk of my 20 weeks here, $6 (student meal for subway and triple cheese burger meal for bk).

Had an orientation and a small party at a bar on Thursday with all the exchange students. But most are ang mohs lah there, and there were so many of them! hard to integrate sia lol, must really brush up my ang moh and learn to slang a bit manz!! wahahaha. Ended up toking to a chinese frm Mexico, and she was telling me how her fren in mexico was recently kidnapped and killed. And the kidnapper was like a police or security guard at the workplace of that person! haha scary place.

Haven gone to the city or anywhere further, but will definitely do so this weekend! Ok, I'm lazy to type oready, and I think I have typed quite a bit. Going out soon. Will update again, hopefully with more pictures haha.