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Travel Trilogy - Sydney; Blue Mountains
Sunday, July 27, 2008

Another day trip on the weekends that was fully spent on exploring the other parts of Sydney. 48km west of Sydney, about a 2hours bus ride brings you to the stunning Blue Mountains. It's absolutely beautiful. Words cant justify nor describe how fantastic the view was, not even picture. Seriously, you have to be there to see it yourself...

Often mistaken as kangaroos at first glance, Wallaby are the marsupials found in the lands of Australia. Wallabies range in size from the size of a rabbit to almost 6 ft long.

The other animals at the zoo. Not enclosed in any cage, they run/hop around the zoo freely, allowing tourists to get closer to them. I got to feed the Wallabies and it's so ticklish when they nibble the food from my palm!

Australia's most loved and most popular mammal! The word Koala is an Aboriginal word meaning "no water". Koala is the native 'bear' of the continent but the fact is Koala has no relation to a bear. It is actually a distant cousin to the Wombat. A koala is probably one of the most docile and cuddly animals on earth. A typical koala spends about 20% of its time feeding, nearly 80% sleeping, and less than 1% grooming, traveling and seeking mates... Geeez~

More animals!

Top left is an albino kangaroo, koala and my favourite Wombat! Totally love it. Round and fat and so cutee!

Finally arrived at Blue Mountains. We were blessed with a clear day and got to see the best of it... Oh, did i mention it was so cold up there!!

It's stunning.... Awesome view~ Got to be the best i've seen so far in Sydney. As the name suggest, the mountain actually does seems kinda blue ya?

The road around Blue Mountains actually involves a skyway, cableway, walkway and railway. The most exciting one has got to be the railway! The 415m descent will take you through a cliff side tunnel into ancient rain forest. It has also been known as the steepest incline Railway in the world. I was literally screaming my heart out. Imagine riding down a CLIFF side tunnel... It's insane!

More of the beautiful Blue Mountains. Spot the Three Sisters?

Sunset view. We took a long ferry ride back to Sydney Habour. Sat in the open air and was freezing my life away in the cold. Day ended and Blue Mountains was one of the best places i've seen. I noticed houses near toward the cliff just opposite Blue Mountains. Imagine waking up to this amazing view every morning. What more can you ask for?

Okay I gotta end here. Just finish a 9km walk all the way from Mount Faber to Kent Ridge Park. It was actually quite good... Will blog more abt the rest of Sydney next week. Cheeers y'all~



Travel Trilogy - Sydney; Hunter Valley
Thursday, July 24, 2008

The weekends were planned to explore Sydney. We signed up for a tour to bring us to Hunter Valley and i am so so glad that i went ahead with this. It is slightly pricey for a 1 day tour but it's sure worth it. Visiting the Hunter Valley is a way to experience and enjoy the good things in Australian life and to reward myself.

Just some background history before i roll out the pictures: "The Hunter Valley is Australia’s oldest and one of its most well-known wine regions. Here you will find world-class Hunter Valley Semillon that has been called “Australia’s unique gift to the world’, great Australian Shiraz that lasts for generations, and generations of family winemakers that are here to tell the tale."

As usual, the weather was chilly and sunny at the same time...


1st winery - Iron Gates. Drank a good mix of red & white wines.

When you have your first sip of the beautiful wine, it rolls to the back of your tongue, sending a tingling sensation to all your taste buds. You can even taste the oak that the wine was store in for ageing. Wine also taste different after you eat a piece chocolate. Absolutely complimenting to each other. I hate olives and i cant stand the taste of it. But the lovely people at Iron Gates soaked olives in wines and it taste so so good!

Tour of the winery. Explanation of how wines are made. See the American Oak Barrels? Wine are stored in the barrels for years and i swear you can literally taste the oak when you drink the wines from Iron Gates.


Headed over for lunch. There is no shortage of choice when you have over 60 restaurants, 120 wineries and 160 accommodation venues to choose from at Hunter Valley. The next time when im back at Hunter, i would want to stay over in one of the many wineries, get wasted and drink my life away with all the wines. Any takers?


The ruffles of leaves, branches as the wind blows. Winter seems so so cold...

Wine and Chocolate.

2nd winery - Ernest Hill. As it's fairly a small winery, bottles of wine they made every year are exclusively sold only at Hunter Valley. You can not buy it anywhere else off the racks.

I bought 2 bottles of Semillon, sweet dessert wine. Absolutely stunning~ Felt so happy after drinking that wine! It's so sweet that it just made you happy instantly. Well, i was probably feeling drunk/high after so many glasses of wine tasting and i was flushing red! That picture is not the effect of the sunlight my dear friend. I was so so RED it's embarrassing...

But who cares... I held the bottles of Semillon and felt that happiness was right in my hands.

Told you my face was flushing red... It's true, these photos are evident. Went back to the bus and slept all the way back to Syd. It was a 2hours and 45mins drive back home. Cant really remember what happened next... I think i went out for dinner in the freezing cold weather at night and had a great night sleep.

Boy oh boy how i loveeeee wines... I should drink these everyday.




Travel Trilogy - Sydney; Arthur
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

I was so affected traumatised by the drama that i even dreamt abt it! And it was the biggest fight you could ever imagine. I woke up, heart pounding from all the shouting in that dream. Scarily weird as it may seems, I literally felt that i vented and let out all that i have inside... - in that dream.

Sydney was so much fun. Was in Syd a week for a business trip, took advantage of the trip there and explore Syd. Didnt have much time the last time i was there... This trip made it all up. Meet Arthur on my first day, spent the day with him, hence the title. You would have read abt him from my previous post, so here are all his pics. Professionally taken by Arthur:


Weather was brrreezing cold in Sydney! Fog was so thick that morning. Thankfully it cleared up later in the afternoon, we had great picture ahead! Arthur picked me up from the Hotel, we roamed the streets while swooping our kebahs for breakfast and takeaway coffee.


Walked all the way to the Opera House. Beautiful day; sunny and cooling.


Sitting by the sidewalks, people watching, enjoying the breeze, soaking in the sun, admiring the Opera House, waiting for Arthur while he figure out which lens to use... - that was the moment when everything in life seems to slow down a'lil...


Climbed up the Sydney Opera House, took more pics. The previous time in Sydney, i only saw the nightview of Opera House. And i must say... the dayview is so much better! (and brighter...)


Took a ferry to Manly Beach.


Seriously, i didnt even know there were so many pics of me. Was happily playing/running away from the crashing waves while the shutter went off. I actually like the pics! You gotta agree that my backview looks so much better...


Strolling along beach.


Sat by the cliff, legs dangling off the cliff, sound of the waves crashing onto the rocks.


Ferry back to town. Had dinner, went to Chinatown. Was so tired on the 1st day. Caught up with SG colleagues and some of the Australians for drinks.


I had a great time spending the day with Arthur. The Opera House looks absolutely amazing. Thanks to Arthur for all the awesome photos. These memorable pictures are now part of my desktop wallpaper and it looks damn good on my laptop i tell you. Thought i can share a couple of good pictures with you...


Always loveed the black and white effect. (Credits: Adrian G.)


Sepia is really vintage too. (Credits: Adrian G.)


Pretty aye?

Quality photos from quality cameras. (Credits: Arthur Tong.)

I have 3 more parts to the Sydney picture. So hang in there!




Travel Trilogy - Hong Kong
Monday, July 21, 2008

Amidst my utter disappointment, i figure sharing my travel pics might help me get over it. Don't you like the title that i came up with?? I think Travel Trilogy is so so exciting! Decided to collage all my picture this time round. I cant be painstakingly uploading pictures one by one for Travel Trilogy. I think it's so much neater in a collage. Hope you guys like it!

So this HK trip was a treat from me to my parents. Got them a Cathay Pacific air tix while i flew Jetstar to HK. Save $$$! Dad's friend join us too. So there was 6 of us in total. I flew to HK first, made my way to the hotel (via train,bus,walk - godammit...) and waited for them. That Mango dessert was damn good loh. Why was it close down in SG anyway??

HK is really what you see on the TV. The HK-looking housings, high end condos. With limited space constrain, everything goes upwards...

Victoria's Peak was beautiful at night. Lovely lights from the skyscrapers.

Meeting famous people! I think Jay Chou one damn fake loh. Like WTF?? It's so not him! Probably the only wax figure that was done so badly. I'm sorry man, but that is NOT Jay Chou. I insisted!! I'm sure you'll agree~

LKY. Recognise anyone else?

I personally felt that the Andy Lau one was over-rated. Peirce Brosnan was so much hotter!

Yao Ming is damn f-ing tall, I wanna learn golf and I heart The Beatles!

Star Ave. Neon lights. Ladies' Street.

Harbour, Victoria's Peak during the day.

Causeway Bay. Jackie Chan's residency. Temple.

God of Wealth! Huat ah!! Longevity Bridge.

Boat ride. Expensive looking yatch. Jumbo looks damn big. Jumbo indeed!

Random pics. Huge Char Siew and SUPER SMALL ROOM, i'm not even kidding... The toilet and room door cannot be open at the same time. Smallest room i've even seen!

Visited Grandma and Aunt's place in HK. Wanted to make a trip to Macau on the last day but there was a horrible typhooon. Hotel was lockdown. Everyone had to stay in. I had to go refund my tix to Macau after the typhoon was over. Aftermath of the typhoon was bad though; everywhere was wet, you practically see broken umbrella in every rubbish bin, shops were closed....

Will probably have to travel to Macau again next time. Bummer! HK was quite a short trip. I went back home to SG 1 day earlier while the folks continue their shopping quest. Honest to blog, i didnt really like HK. All the shopping is so not interesting to me man. Was so looking forward to Macau, it'll prolly be better...

Ohwell, next time round then. Anyone?



the (last) farewell

I'm typing this at 3am in the morning. Cant believe i'm still awake at this hour!

Oh holy Mr. Man Above, you really do love to play lil tricks and pranks on me dont you... Well, it was a good one. Everything i have seen, heard, known about tonight was more than enough. And i had enough. It shouldnt be this hard. Seriously, for all that i have put in - I think i'm worth more than this. If this is how it's gonna be done, then I guess it's the end.



Sour grapes never taste so sour
Sunday, July 20, 2008

so how's everyone? it's been a while ya. I finally handed in my 8000 word essay. (Everyone farking hell screeeeam YEAH with me!) It's been war for the last week. Work was rough, Schoolwork was worse. Draining all my energy away, i still wanna show you guys my travel pics. Those are probably the only stuff now that are keeping my sanity alive. So stay tuned for all the pics... I'm staying awake at night to get all these done.

Just randomly, i never log on to facebook till this afternoon. (cos i have no clue how to use it. Yes, believe it or not. I'm not even kidding abt it...) Anywho, i knew my instinct and intuition are always right, never was i wrong. NEVER. Guys listen to me, always always trust a women's intuition. I'm so not doubting about what the heart's telling me anymore. But you should have told me earlier and i would not have flew over.

Somethings are just not worth it when you dont see the appreciation from others. Guess i found out too late. Well, better late that never. Sour grapes never taste so sour. And it's proven once again, stupidity and foolishness have always been my forte.

Love all...

But not you anymore.



home
Tuesday, July 08, 2008

I'M SO BACK. Been flying around for the past few weeks. Finally got back home, in my own crib. Still, it was fun travelling all around. Redang was absolutely beautiful. White sandy beach. Clear blue water. The BEST beach i've seen so far. Definitely worth a trip there to relax & enjoy yourself. For this Redang trip:

- I had a new tan
- Snorkelled for the first time
- Swam past baby sharks
- Corals reefs that looks like beautiful castles to the fishes
- Do nothing except for sleeping at the beach

Pure bliss. No one was disturbing my peaceful life there. We had a great Company Conference 2008. And im glad i extended my trip in Redang! Been swimming through hundreds of pictures. Wished i can show you guys all my pics. Just for teaser, lemme just show you 1 pic of Redang:

That place is exactly how the photo looks like. Awesome right!

I've got tons of pics i owe you guys:

- Sydney (11th June - 17th June)

- Hong Kong (23th June - 25th June)

- Redang (2th July - 6th July)

Will be busy with assignment deadlines now.

Till im back for all the pics!





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