5 of 6

...was spent at centennial park. it is 1 of 3 parks (the other 2 are moore park and queens park) under the big name centennial parklands. it is situated in the paddington suburb but is accessible by foot from kensington, randwick and so on. basically suburbs ard UNSW. like botanic gardens here, centennial park means alot to OH and i. it is where we do our picnicking and unwinding, a venue where we attend various jazz and christmas concerts, or a place where we have a break from the hustle and bustle of the city.

popped by here to get a bottle of wine. not a huge range of choices (of small bottles) to choose from but we got one that turned out quite smooth and sweet.


walked past OH's ex-place where he stayed for half a year and had to move out cos one of his flatmates saw a ghost in the kitchen and refused to come home. they cant find someone to replace her and since no longer could afford the rent and so all gotto move out. what an episode!


LEFT: one of several entrances to centennial park. RIGHT: winding path leading to the 189 hectare park.


a pelican in the pond while we were walking on the winding path.


dog walkers. one day, i must try to walk my cat (when i have one).


sydney high school, mckay sports ground.


the school boys.







we walked and we walked.... to get to one particular pond where we wanna rest our feet and enjoy our packed bee hoon and wine.

many such ponds within the park. tis one reminds me of my childhood.





finally, we got there!!! here's the view we get from where we sat.




after eating, we packed up and went on to more walking and snapping. its like taking one last good walk through the park.

went through tis nature trail that was a swamp before.


the bark of tis tree feels like tissue paper.


the second place we settled down. carried on with our wine and munching of very nice thai ikan bilis (which i wasnt a fan of until these ones). we stayed here most of time, watching ducks and pelicans making splashes in the pond. thereafter, a family came and started throwing out bread into the pond. all the ducks then started flying from one part of the pond to right in front of us. that was when we noticed the way different species of ducks land on water. some species landed with such grace while some clumsy and funny.


on the way out of the park...

feasting of the pelicans and mandarin ducks.






ice-cream and hot food.


yet another pond with another kinda ducks. the usual white ones.





our day at centennial park ended with us helping these geese look for their contact lenses.



brownie: "i still cant find my lenses. hey, where are the rest of them?"

tuesday - movie day no more

broadband is up.

lappy is up (using my bro's actually).

now i can come online with ease, but i cant stay on for too long. my bro's lappy is known to overheat after jus 2 hours of usage. why so lousy huh?!? pc is still the best... expandable, tenacious but unfortunately immobile.

i'm under house arrest. i was suppose to meet some ex-colleagues for dinner but i'm feeling under the weather (been plagued by flu and giddiness since last friday and worse off after church service on sunday) and so m stranded at home now. can still go for a walk downstairs or buy bread that kinda thing but no jalan jalaning for me. i'm feeling weak. i jus wanna lie down on my bed and sleep. but the air is so humid and the bed so warm. i can feel tis layer of hot air encapsulating me. argh!

the overdue post

shucks, i dont know where to start. i've pics on 5 of 6 and 6 of 6 to post and things i wanna say and thoughts i wanna put across but they're now all jumbled up. i suppose i'll write what comes to my mind now.

the past week has been hell lots of adjustment to do. both good and bad.

the weather (sauna type sweating when i eat, when i shop, when i shit, when i sleep, when i whatever. basically i perspire round the clock. when i'm out and when i'm in. i feel like thai sticky rice all the time. i warn anyone who comes near me. u'll stick to me like super glue. boohoo. i'm still trying to climatise okay. from abt 10-20oC to 30oC leh. what do u think? even though mentally i so much want to adjust, physically, my body needs time u know),

the culture (there's hardly any customer service left huh? and also pushy commuters)

the food (too spoilt for choice. tis is the only good adjustment to make :))

the crowds (weekend shopping is more like a rubbing shoulders encounter)

bitchy relatives (ironically they turned out to be the men. is it andropause, mid life crisis or what?)

at one many points of time, i questioned our my decision of moving back to singapore. why did we come back? so what if OH's job offer was irresistable? is the lifestyle in singapore what we're after? do we wanna raise our kids in sucha compeititve environment where emphasis is not placed on learning and seeking knowledge per se but comparing grades among your peers? having said that, singapore is not all that bad, and australia is definitely not a paradise. i know ultimately, how i wanna live my life lies in my hands. i reckon i'll have to make do with what i've and to crave the best out of it (as if i can change the weather/ culture, lessen the crowds and tame bitchy relatives. bleargh! the devil is toying with my mind again). gosh, very typical and cliche of me to say that but what to do, that's life.

i experienced a health scare on thursday. my dad actually. he complained of chest pain and went to see the family doc. the doc then wrote a referral letter for him to visit A&E immediately. for a ECG i guess. after much persuasion from my brother and myself, my dad still insist on seeing his trusty chinese sinseh. yeah right, a second opinion from a sinseh. what crap! hey, though i study western medicine, i do believe in chinese medicine too. i'm a true testimony of chinese medicine by the way. my gastric problem was cured after many many bowls of blackish stinky brewed soups. as u can imagine, i was furious, and scared too. okay, the fury stemmed from worry and helplessness. knowing well of the complications and consequences of a potential stroke happening to my dad who is hypertensive, and sitting ard not being able to convince him to the hospital, it was truly a moment of apprehension. i dont know if i've done right to allow him see the chinese sinseh and not insisting on him getting a ECG done. in any case, i'm finding out ECG procedures at various health premises. will book an appointment for him (if i can convince him to go). tis is my only comfort abt being back here, that is, to take care of my parents.

56k modem connected at 28-32kbps sucks big time. to make matter worse, my lappy has jus 64mb RAM. getting connected is no big hooha but to load a webpage or to surf ard is one major put off. now u know why i havent been online or updating my blog. and yes, u reading tis post is very hard to come by for i've to go through loads of loads of loads of trouble to post it. its out of the question for me to upload pics (i havent really try it though :P). but i'm lucky, times like these wont last long (fingers crossed!). my 2 IT consultants (OH & yeo) are working very hard in getting my lappy up and running so that i can surf/ blog/ blogsurf with ease, without it hanging on me. m i hinting them to hurry up? :P not at all. i'm more than grateful for their time and efforts. in fact i'm getting quite used to not going online eversince i'm back. then again, i do not mind a decent lappy i can work on and a broadband connection that allows no fuss surfing. :)

till my lappy is up and running like clockwork, i wont be posting much (as far as i'd like to). my utmost apologies!

farewell sydney, hello singapore!

hi folks

i'm now at the sydney international airport waiting to board my flight back home. our luggages were OVERweight but thank god, they went through fine.

i dont know if it was the going home or leaving sydney jittery, i'm having butterflies in my stomach and have been visiting the loo several times since tis morning. bleargh.

okay, i better go, in case of a long queue at the customs. i'll see u guys back home. soon. later tonite.

see ya. and good bye sydney!

eve of 5 of 6

i'm writing tis from the uni library. yes, my home computer is gone. gone as in away with the freight company. the guy came tis morning and collected everything, all 12 boxes worth of baju (including michelin), shoes, books, monitor, printer, barang barang accumulated over the last 34 months.

i'm feeling so lost without a computer (yep, it has only been a couple of hours). correction. i've the lappy still but with NO BROADBAND CONNECTION. ya lor, i dont hv a network card. i can only be hooked up to 56k connection. so damn slow. sorry for those who'r still on 56. no offence to u. i'm jus too used to having broadband speed. in fact, i dont even know if my dialup would affect my housemate's broadband connection cos i've heard that both dialup & broadband dont go together. anyway, if i really get so bored later (yes, no telly too. the telly is gone!!!), i'll try to dial up and try to hear if there's any screaming coming from his room. i made him sound so drama. :P apparantly, he is but in a good way of course.

the thought of the imminent hit me tis morning when i was out buying a roll of packing tape. the lift, the main gate, the letterbox, the path to the bus stop, the waiting at the crossing, the shops, the friends u made at the shops, the buses, the familiar bus drivers, the routine, the place u called home for 34 months, gonna be taken over by a new yet familiar surrounding. well, when it has to happen, it has to. human beings have the ability to adapt to changes and embrace a new environment when we have to. its an in-built instinct in us. sad, depressed we'll feel but given time, we'll get over it and move on. when we look back, the fond memories will flood our minds and praises we will sing.

arrgh.... OH and i might spend 5 of 6 and 6 of 6 at home. what coldsnap gone by thursday?!?! its still so bloody cold. i so want my michelin!!!!

i might not have the chance to write till i get back to singapore. then again, i might try to dial up as and when boredom haunts me. till then, take care guys and do check back in a week's time, the latest.

all abt bondi and a wee bit of kingsford

i'm tired. been out the whole day. tis shall be a brief entry. i'm one lazy bum. :P

11-11:45am

waited in vain for the phone interview company xxx insisted on. called agent C to find out what happened & she realised she got the date wrong. okay, looks like i got my way of having the face-to-face interview after i'm back in singapore (so i thought. carry on reading). agent C said to arrange that and then call/ email me the details.

12:30pm

dropped off a bag of winter clothings & OH's business suit at the laundromat. cost us a whopping $48!

1:30pm

got to bondi junction. grabbed a whopper junior from hungry jacks. it was succulent. i dont know if it was the hunger to start with. i really thought that was the best burger i've ever had. now i know why jann (supervisor at uni photography) always loves a freshly made hot burger. after the quick lunch, i saw joyce, my hairstylist for the last time in sydney. also my last haircut here. spent a good 1.5 hours and nearly $100 (haircut + product). to think that my last haircut was in may, 100 buck is not alot. :P

within westfield bondi.


guys would lurve westfield... there're couches at every level and every other corner. even the girls would lurve it. to rest our tired feets in-between/ after shopping. :P

the outside of westfield bondi.


3pm

met up with OH at borders & then we caught a bus to bondi beach for a proper lunch of fish and chips. while we were deciding the type of fish, we saw the shop actually sells deep fried mars in batter. yes, mars bar. deep fried ice-cream i've heard and tasted but never once deep fried chocolate bar. sheesh. i wonder how it taste like.

we walked ard the area for a while. mainly the shops. we gave the beach a miss for it was too cold. we couldnt wait to get on the bus. also got a call from agent C that company xxx insisted on having a phone interview rather than a face-to-face interview next week. okaaay, i suppose they dont wanna waste time on someone who cant even carry out a decent conversation with them. call it preliminary selection.

grilled snapper with chips.


grilled blue eye cod with chips.




on the bus back to bondi junction.



bondi surf seafoods - where we had our fish & chips.




5:15pm

back to bondi junction. meant to buy space bags or vacuum bags (for bulky items like winter clothings) from kmart. since its closes at 10pm, we left the task till the end of the day.

out of bondi junction interchange. see the brown tall building? thats where kmart is.


thats bondi junction interchange (we turned ard to take tis shot).


on the way to kmart, we saw papaya body butter very much like the body shop's.


i tried to dig out a sample of it. the texture was horrible. u cant even spread that thing onto your skin. it was practically solid.

7:30pm

came back home to drop off the stuffs and also to warm up (i checked. it was 10.6oC when we got back. heard there's some coldsnap moving up from from the south. victoria and tassie even experienced snowfall. the last time tassie had snow was 20 years ago) before turning up at mamma teresa, an italian restaurant downstairs our place, for dinner. the good thing abt dining here is u get authentic cuisine cooked by the natives. italian, korean, thai, indonesian, japanese, vietnamese, etc etc.

tortellini boscaiola: bacon cream mushroom carbonara


fettucine marinara: fresh seafood and tomato fettucine

i'm counting down the days. happy to be going home but sad to be leaving here. the feelings i get is truly surreal. my brain says tis is the last week but my heart doesnt seem to feel exceptional sadness yet. i think it has to do with self restraint. the ability to not think or feel the imminent.