THE SUN RISES EARLY IN MELBOURNE
Sunrise really occurs around 5 am every day during spring in melbourne, and most of the shops don't open for business until 10 at least... but they close for the day at 6pm latest from mondays to thursday! What the...?? Luckily for me, the convenience store opens 24/7 and I could grab a snack late at night if I happen to have the craving for it. But there's a price to pay lah, pun intended here... cos' most of the amenities sell much pricier than supermarkets, which is about the only place in Melbourne you can get stuffs cheaper elsewhere.
To be honest, there's nothing much that lives up to the tag the city earns as the most liveable place in the world today, except for the weather. It has been a cooling 20 degrees celsius average in the day time so you can walk all around the city for hours and not even break into a single drop of sweat. Neat eh? Not like Singapore... you try walking down to the mama shop downstairs and you will most probably get drenched... wahaha... Here in melbourne, I can go jogging for miles and not sweat as much as you would in Singapore. Even then, the sweat will most probably be dried up in minutes.
Anyway, jogging in melbourne rocks, but the climate needs some adjustment to because the air is really cold here in the mornings. Speaking of which, I nearly coughed my lungs out that day I went jogging alone to the outskirts of the city. It was a nice experience to run in a foreign land and knowing you could just cast everything aside and run to your heart's content... No time constraint and nothing to worry about... Just breath the air, enjoy the run and bask in the sights melbourne has to offer. It really lifts up your spirit amidst the dourness of city life.
And how could I miss the chance to play soccer in this wonderful weather and on top of it, a great hockey turf pitch at the university of melbourne? And just you all might wanna know, the sun doesn't set until 0830pm!! The bunch of us played straight after class ended at 0430pm and didn't leave till the sky turned a soothing lavender and soon after which the sun finally setting down on us. It was awesome man... I can't wait to go back there again playing soccer in my long sleeve nike t-shirt... I think I looked like I was playing in the english premier league... hehe... Imagine the look I got from some of my newly acquainted classmates on the streets who, 15 minutes ago, saw me still in my windbreaker and jeans... was really funny aiight to see another side of me...
Oh yeah, I'm still organizing the pictures from my trips in this photo hosting website. When I'm done with it, I will post the url link on my blog for you guys to see... But, it most probably won't be anytime soon cos' there are tonnes of pictures to be posted. Rest assured though, you will have more than what you bargained for, so... there you go, I believe that just like the good things in life, it IS always worth the wait...
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Friday, November 12, 2004
THE DAY THE WEATHER FROZE MY BUTT OFF
Call it unpreparedness and an over reliance on misguided information. Whoever told me summer in Melbourne is hot should be kicked in the butt, no questions asked. The day I touched down at the Tullamarine airport, and stepped outside for the first time, it was so freakin' cold I nearly wanted to run back inside and cover myself with all the airline blankets I could lay my hands on... wahahaha... Okay abit "kwa zhang" but it was really cold loh... I could see my own breath man, you know, the white vapour thing that comes out of your mouth with every breath you take? Yeah... I thought it was pretty cool, uh huh...
And so I arrived at Spencer St station after taking the A$13 (WTF??!) skybus from the airport to the city. Wow, and to think a ride on our own SBS or TransIsland never cost anything near... cut throat man... And hoping to save some cash then, we took a looonng walk all the way from the western end of the city to the eastern side where our apartment was located, all the while carrying our backpacks... yes, don't laugh sarcastic brudders of mine, I REALLY did carry a backpack, damn bloody backpack all the way to my place of residence... outdoor hunk ok!!! wahaha... ok lah thats about it anyway, doesn't really qualify as backpacking if its anything according to malau's strict definition.
Feeling sleepy... still jet lagged man... going off now but look out for this space!
Call it unpreparedness and an over reliance on misguided information. Whoever told me summer in Melbourne is hot should be kicked in the butt, no questions asked. The day I touched down at the Tullamarine airport, and stepped outside for the first time, it was so freakin' cold I nearly wanted to run back inside and cover myself with all the airline blankets I could lay my hands on... wahahaha... Okay abit "kwa zhang" but it was really cold loh... I could see my own breath man, you know, the white vapour thing that comes out of your mouth with every breath you take? Yeah... I thought it was pretty cool, uh huh...
And so I arrived at Spencer St station after taking the A$13 (WTF??!) skybus from the airport to the city. Wow, and to think a ride on our own SBS or TransIsland never cost anything near... cut throat man... And hoping to save some cash then, we took a looonng walk all the way from the western end of the city to the eastern side where our apartment was located, all the while carrying our backpacks... yes, don't laugh sarcastic brudders of mine, I REALLY did carry a backpack, damn bloody backpack all the way to my place of residence... outdoor hunk ok!!! wahaha... ok lah thats about it anyway, doesn't really qualify as backpacking if its anything according to malau's strict definition.
Feeling sleepy... still jet lagged man... going off now but look out for this space!
Thursday, November 11, 2004
MY MUM CAN'T KICK START MY PHANTOM
Wah so fast 11th Nov already... hours later and I'll be flying off to Aussie land. Bought my stuffs already but have yet to sort them into my humongous backpack cos' I don't even know where to start to begin with!
Me and the brudders went out for dinner at marina south yesterday for my 'farewell' dinner and they really thought I'll be gone for good when they asked me to draw up my will... So there you go, since my only valuable possession is my beloved phantom... the tyres, handle bar, head light, engine, fuel tank is up for grabs... you guys take whatever you want lah... but pay finish my instalment first... still got 1.7 k... wahahaha...
Earlier, I brought my mum downstairs to teach her how to start up my bike for the warming up process... I tell her: "First you insert the key, m'kay? Turn it to your right, m'kay? Then you pull up the choke m'kay? and finally you kick the bike, Nonono I mean kick start the bike m'kay? Simple? Now you do it..." Alright every's okay so far until the kicking part, she no strength to kick lah... and she had the cheeks to tell me she kick before during her younger days! ahaha... maybe old liao so can't blame her... In any case, few people can actually get it right at the first attempt... haha...
Okok, that's it for the last update from my home sweet home in Singapore... Till then!
Wah so fast 11th Nov already... hours later and I'll be flying off to Aussie land. Bought my stuffs already but have yet to sort them into my humongous backpack cos' I don't even know where to start to begin with!
Me and the brudders went out for dinner at marina south yesterday for my 'farewell' dinner and they really thought I'll be gone for good when they asked me to draw up my will... So there you go, since my only valuable possession is my beloved phantom... the tyres, handle bar, head light, engine, fuel tank is up for grabs... you guys take whatever you want lah... but pay finish my instalment first... still got 1.7 k... wahahaha...
Earlier, I brought my mum downstairs to teach her how to start up my bike for the warming up process... I tell her: "First you insert the key, m'kay? Turn it to your right, m'kay? Then you pull up the choke m'kay? and finally you kick the bike, Nonono I mean kick start the bike m'kay? Simple? Now you do it..." Alright every's okay so far until the kicking part, she no strength to kick lah... and she had the cheeks to tell me she kick before during her younger days! ahaha... maybe old liao so can't blame her... In any case, few people can actually get it right at the first attempt... haha...
Okok, that's it for the last update from my home sweet home in Singapore... Till then!
Saturday, November 06, 2004
LEAVING ON A JET PLANE... SOON
Finally, exams are done and over with, and with only less than a week left, I'll soon be boarding a plane to melbourne for my on campus study trip to "Lé Royalé Melbourne Instituté of Technolozee" *phoney french accent* or RMIT as some would know.
My mum wanted to send me off at the airport, to which I retorted sarcastically: "Chey... It's not as if I'm not coming back..." She gave me a furious glare that meant to say (in cantonese): "Chooii!!! Lei cheh sei zai bao!!! Tai kar lai see!!! Suoy zai ah!!!" , and which I promptly brush aside with a nonchalant look. Typical of me, hahaha... Not that I'm devoid of any emotions and do not appreciate their intentions, but I seriously think its too much of a hassle for them.
36 days spent down under might not seem a long time to many people but for me, it is... Cos' this is the first time I'll be out of the country for more than 2 weeks at one shot. Not that I'm being whiny and wussy here, but I think I will miss a lot of things back home, especially not being able to play soccer for ONE WHOLE MONTH!!! NOOO000oooo... *faints and foams at the mouth*
How well am I able to adapt to living on my own? No previous experience to begin with, unless you count NS life as one. But its not a big deal ya' know? Cos' my brudders know I can rough it out in any kind of environment, no matter how harsh it can get... right? hahaha... As for living under the same roof with the rest of the peeps? I'm easy to get along with as long as they don't DEPRIVE ME of my routine daily morning shit time (a copy of the straits times sent over to me while I'm shitting would be purrrfect). So there you go, no problemo at all.
Looking ahead of the trip, I say its gonna be exciting times ahead... visiting new places, doing different things and viewing the world around you through a different perspective. My one month whirlwind tour of australia will take me to melbourne, sydney, brisbane and gold coast. And you think its gonna cost me a bomb right? Far from that peeps, cos' we're doing everything on a shoestring budget and I have my friend James (No, not you, malau...) to thank for finding FREE accomodation during our stay at melbourne! wicked aiighhtt... Cos' you see, accomodation is the most costly item on any expense list, so that effectively shaved more than a quarter of our costs in Australia. Plus, we won't be going to tourists attractions like Dreamworld or Warner Bros Studio which costs a bomb and I think we'll be eating bread loaves for breakfast, lunch and dinner... hahahaha... Instead of all the luxuries a tourist enjoys, me and James (2 guys... *cry*) will live the life of a backpacker *my brudders you know who you are, please don't laugh, I really mean backpack... OK LAH, mini-backpack can??!* hahaha...
Come to think of it, sad lah... my ultimate dream is to travel the world with the girl of my dreams... now got this opportunity, but is with a guy... no offence man James... bo pian leh, tsk... wahahaha... Too bad some of my friends can't join me for some reason or the other, or else it'll be more fun in a bigger group, but anyway, travelling with just one companion gives you more time off for yourself to think about issues in life, so its not that bad after all.
Yah, back to yesterday... after soccer at nus I headed to work for this childcare centre in yishun doing miscellaneous stuffs. 50 bucks for slightly more than 3 hours of easy work... tidy sum of money eh? thanks to my jogging kaki kwang aphaiwong for that... hahaha... that arsehole wanted to 'exploit' me cos' I've got a bike and could give him a ride all the way to yishun... But if I were him I would also do the same thing anyway, so I rest my case... hehehe... However in the end, we took the train cos' the weather didn't look any good to me.
Upon reaching the place, I was asked to board the coach that will bring us to this grassroots club where the little tots of angel childcare centre are performing for their graduation ceremony. Wah, kids these days have it good man... it was quite an elaborate affair if you compare to the kids during our generation... I didn't recall doing anything more than wearing the robe and the mortar board(is that what it's called?) and posing for silly pictures with a scroll that is crumpled A4 size paper tied up with a piece of red ribbon. Anyway, as I board the bus my ears were immediately bombarded by a ear piercing racket which sounded like from a battlefield. The noisy kiddos were literally everywhere!!! Aaahhh... I'm about to go nutters then. Only my calm composure kept me from losing my sanity there. Not that I hate kids or anything but the noise is too much for me to stomach all at once. I told myself to grin and bear with it, and then proceed to be all chummy with the little devils beside from where I was standing. So after a few exchanges with the not-very-shy kiddos, I asked them to decide between the 2 of us who is more yandao. After some gibberish, one of the girl finally said kwang aphaiwong is the more handsome one, to which I shockingly pursue to ask: "WHY???!" She replied: "Because your face is round..." (-_-"") Wah liew, shatter my heart like that... My face really very round meh??! I don't think so loh... It USED to be round, now its NOT!!! why do you think I jog so much for what??! I so wanted to pinch the nasty little kiddo's chubby cheeks and say: "YOUR FACE MORE ROUNDER THAN ME LEH!!!" wahahaha... damn funny...
More funny scenes to follow when I was at backstage overlooking at their performance... This kiddo's elephant shaped cap fell off while he was dancing, and when he put it back on, it was the other way round... so you can imagine the elephant trunk that was supposed to be in the front is now facing the back... and he doesn't even know it!!! Kids are soo blur and that is what makes them so cute at the same time cos' in almost all the performances, there are bound to be quite a few sotongs that tried to be funny by doing the exact reverse direction from the rest of the group or just pretending to be... well, moving along with the song... hahaha... kids really do the darnest thing...
Wah damn long leh this thesis, I think I shall stop here... my luggage haven't even packed yet... shiitt!!!
Finally, exams are done and over with, and with only less than a week left, I'll soon be boarding a plane to melbourne for my on campus study trip to "Lé Royalé Melbourne Instituté of Technolozee" *phoney french accent* or RMIT as some would know.
My mum wanted to send me off at the airport, to which I retorted sarcastically: "Chey... It's not as if I'm not coming back..." She gave me a furious glare that meant to say (in cantonese): "Chooii!!! Lei cheh sei zai bao!!! Tai kar lai see!!! Suoy zai ah!!!" , and which I promptly brush aside with a nonchalant look. Typical of me, hahaha... Not that I'm devoid of any emotions and do not appreciate their intentions, but I seriously think its too much of a hassle for them.
36 days spent down under might not seem a long time to many people but for me, it is... Cos' this is the first time I'll be out of the country for more than 2 weeks at one shot. Not that I'm being whiny and wussy here, but I think I will miss a lot of things back home, especially not being able to play soccer for ONE WHOLE MONTH!!! NOOO000oooo... *faints and foams at the mouth*
How well am I able to adapt to living on my own? No previous experience to begin with, unless you count NS life as one. But its not a big deal ya' know? Cos' my brudders know I can rough it out in any kind of environment, no matter how harsh it can get... right? hahaha... As for living under the same roof with the rest of the peeps? I'm easy to get along with as long as they don't DEPRIVE ME of my routine daily morning shit time (a copy of the straits times sent over to me while I'm shitting would be purrrfect). So there you go, no problemo at all.
Looking ahead of the trip, I say its gonna be exciting times ahead... visiting new places, doing different things and viewing the world around you through a different perspective. My one month whirlwind tour of australia will take me to melbourne, sydney, brisbane and gold coast. And you think its gonna cost me a bomb right? Far from that peeps, cos' we're doing everything on a shoestring budget and I have my friend James (No, not you, malau...) to thank for finding FREE accomodation during our stay at melbourne! wicked aiighhtt... Cos' you see, accomodation is the most costly item on any expense list, so that effectively shaved more than a quarter of our costs in Australia. Plus, we won't be going to tourists attractions like Dreamworld or Warner Bros Studio which costs a bomb and I think we'll be eating bread loaves for breakfast, lunch and dinner... hahahaha... Instead of all the luxuries a tourist enjoys, me and James (2 guys... *cry*) will live the life of a backpacker *my brudders you know who you are, please don't laugh, I really mean backpack... OK LAH, mini-backpack can??!* hahaha...
Come to think of it, sad lah... my ultimate dream is to travel the world with the girl of my dreams... now got this opportunity, but is with a guy... no offence man James... bo pian leh, tsk... wahahaha... Too bad some of my friends can't join me for some reason or the other, or else it'll be more fun in a bigger group, but anyway, travelling with just one companion gives you more time off for yourself to think about issues in life, so its not that bad after all.
Yah, back to yesterday... after soccer at nus I headed to work for this childcare centre in yishun doing miscellaneous stuffs. 50 bucks for slightly more than 3 hours of easy work... tidy sum of money eh? thanks to my jogging kaki kwang aphaiwong for that... hahaha... that arsehole wanted to 'exploit' me cos' I've got a bike and could give him a ride all the way to yishun... But if I were him I would also do the same thing anyway, so I rest my case... hehehe... However in the end, we took the train cos' the weather didn't look any good to me.
Upon reaching the place, I was asked to board the coach that will bring us to this grassroots club where the little tots of angel childcare centre are performing for their graduation ceremony. Wah, kids these days have it good man... it was quite an elaborate affair if you compare to the kids during our generation... I didn't recall doing anything more than wearing the robe and the mortar board(is that what it's called?) and posing for silly pictures with a scroll that is crumpled A4 size paper tied up with a piece of red ribbon. Anyway, as I board the bus my ears were immediately bombarded by a ear piercing racket which sounded like from a battlefield. The noisy kiddos were literally everywhere!!! Aaahhh... I'm about to go nutters then. Only my calm composure kept me from losing my sanity there. Not that I hate kids or anything but the noise is too much for me to stomach all at once. I told myself to grin and bear with it, and then proceed to be all chummy with the little devils beside from where I was standing. So after a few exchanges with the not-very-shy kiddos, I asked them to decide between the 2 of us who is more yandao. After some gibberish, one of the girl finally said kwang aphaiwong is the more handsome one, to which I shockingly pursue to ask: "WHY???!" She replied: "Because your face is round..." (-_-"") Wah liew, shatter my heart like that... My face really very round meh??! I don't think so loh... It USED to be round, now its NOT!!! why do you think I jog so much for what??! I so wanted to pinch the nasty little kiddo's chubby cheeks and say: "YOUR FACE MORE ROUNDER THAN ME LEH!!!" wahahaha... damn funny...
More funny scenes to follow when I was at backstage overlooking at their performance... This kiddo's elephant shaped cap fell off while he was dancing, and when he put it back on, it was the other way round... so you can imagine the elephant trunk that was supposed to be in the front is now facing the back... and he doesn't even know it!!! Kids are soo blur and that is what makes them so cute at the same time cos' in almost all the performances, there are bound to be quite a few sotongs that tried to be funny by doing the exact reverse direction from the rest of the group or just pretending to be... well, moving along with the song... hahaha... kids really do the darnest thing...
Wah damn long leh this thesis, I think I shall stop here... my luggage haven't even packed yet... shiitt!!!
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