Victoria, anyone?

Melbourne in 8 hours!

Post-exam activities III

161106 Jiak ah!

Are you hungry now? If so, you better not read on! Because we went to eat one of my favourite kinds of breakfast!!! Woohoo!!!

Headed for Sunnybank at 11am or so. Not exactly breakfast but hey! I'm on holidays! Anyhoo. I love this breakfast! Right up there with McD's Sausage McMuffin with Egg meal. Yum!

Oyster mee suah! Long life ah!

Delicious spring onion pancake! MMMMMMMM!!!

Braised egg and tau gua! BEST I HAVE EVER TASTED!

And for dessert... ... ... ... Hmm... Do you like the beancurd from Rochor? I don't. Because I find it too soft. No texture, nothing to chew. I'm a bit of a chewer. I like to chew barley especially. Haha... Can take me ages to finish a cup of barley. Well. Beancurd.

Cold soy beancurd with fresh mango!!! !!! !!! I LOVE ITS TEXTURE!!!

But that must be the most expensive beancurd I have ever had. $3.80 ok! Mai siao siao.

Today, the plan was to go Sunnybank and Garden City. What's at Garden City? Another Westfield mall. Woohoo! Same boring shops!!! How exciting!!! +_+

But this mall supposed to be bigger though I didn't really think so. Nothing for me to buy also. I think I need to stick to routine. Like go to Brisbane city to shop or maybe Indooroopilly. By the way, how would you pronounce Indooroopilly? In-door-roo-pi-ly? WRONG! It's In-droo-pi-ly!!! Amazing right?! The two "o" must be swallowed. Hmm... But it sounds better anyway!

Recently, we have been on an ice-coffee trail. The best we have had so far is still at Campos, Sydney. Sadly, the most unobtainable as well. But this one here comes close! Ladies and gentlemen, in second place... ... ...

From some book shop cafe in Garden City. It is inside the mall itself. Near Terry White Chemist if I'm not mistaken. 2nd hand bookstore. Check it out!!!

For some strange reason, we not in the mood to shop! *gasps* Must be getting ready for Melbourne. Hee, hee, hee. But I'm going without expectations and hope to be surprised! Hmm.. That's an expectation also isn't it? Ah! Whatever lah!

But the window display here for Christmas nice wor. I wonder what it's like in Singapore. If I get to go back before Christmas, I would like to high tea at Goodwood Park. Always past by during Xmas and get to see the tall xmas tree outside but never get to see it up close and personal. Haiz. I think Singapore's xmas display more happening. The best is the year when they had the blue twinkling lights and it drizzled. Looked like snow!

Here though, they have cute wombat!

There is a story to this but I can't quite remember. It's about Wombat wanting a role in the performance of the birth of Jesus. Woolloo must be happy for his fellow countryman.

Post-exam activities II

151106 All hail the hail

Last year, I was pissing mad that I did not get to see the hail. Usually, I sleep around 2am but on that blasted day, I went to bed a wee bit earlier, wondering why it was so cold despite the coming of summer. Next day, I learnt the truth. Hail.

This year, I cursed when I saw that hail had hit Gold Coast but not Brisbane. Interestingly, despite the damages, many welcomed the hail. That's how dry it is here. Remember your moisturisers kids!

So continuing on our post-exam activities. Shortly, after we boarded the bus to the city, it rained sideways. Remember watching Forrest Gump where they were describing the rain they had in Vietnam? Yeah. Sideways it was. Wondered if the ferry can still operate in that kind of weather.

Dear K was so nice to call us and told us to be careful. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS RAINING HAIL!!!

Woooooo!!! A few weeks before I'm heading back, I get to witness hail! From a safe shelter of course. Do not underestimate the devastation of hail. It can dent your car.

The hail we saw was tiny, like those chipped ice cubes you get in your drinks. Small. See the clip for yourself.

The white bits on the road are hailstones. More like pebbles to me.

With such heavy rain that went sideways, we decided to seek shelter at a nearby cafe. Having explored most of Sydney and Adelaide city, I am ashamed to admit that I haven't seen much of Brisbane city, saved for the area where the malls are. The cafe looked quaint and hidden. It was almost full.

Number 12!

The iced coffee was so-so only. But we got out of the rain, so I'm not complaining. We hopped onto a bus to Chermside. Why Chermside? Because there is supposed to be a big mall there. The bus driver told us that the bus indeed would go to Chermside, though there's a shorter route. Hmm... Should have heeded the advice I think. Haha... But nice to look at the architecture of local buildings anyway. Not that many "jiak-hong-chu" in Singapore.

Chermside is a Westfield mall, meaning the things are pretty much the same. Just like in Singapore where you will find the same Giordarno, U2, G2000 in all shopping centers. Here, you will find Sportsgirl, Temt, Valley Girl, Cue, Portmans, etc. One word: boring! But Chermside is pretty. I think it's quite new. Good place to go if you want a change of environment. :D

Cannot forget to eat Aburi Salmon sushi at Sushi Train! I think this outlet has the best Aburi. Yum! Our high tea turned out to be quite a meal. Nice!

We walked around somemore but couldn't find things to buy. Never mind! Going Melbourne soon! We can score there!

We have been talking about this particular course offered by QUT called creative advertising. Advertising here is more interesting than in Singapore. Granted, some humour elements are lost on us, but generally, Australian advertisements offer a lot more creativity than those in Singapore. I suspect there are more regulations in Singapore. For example, we noticed that Australian ads like portray inanimate objects in violent acts. Like a personified corn running on a conveyor belt and eventually gets smashed by a huge piling machine to turn into cereal. Or one of my personal faves, the Cadbury ad.

See the chocolatey people?

Cadbury has a series of ad. Ad no. 1 showed the family going to a maze that was made of chocolate. When they got lost, they just ate their way out. Ad no. 2 saw them going to the movies where they were blocked by this man with a giant chocolate afro, which they just ate as well. And ad no. 3 was the postman coming to delivered a mail and the dog began to bark nonstop. So what did he do? He bit off its chocolatey tail. Haha!!!

We headed back for home at 5pm. When all the mall closes. Maybe I will get culture shock in Singapore when the shopping centers are still open at 9pm.

The view of Brisbane city from Southbank.

Southbank is a nice place to go, especially if you are one half of a couple. During evening, the ambience there is very romantic wor. Ah... Southbank is also home to salsa dancing on Fri nights. Looks very fun!

Southbank is also where I act cute. :P

Post-exam activities I

When you are studying for exams, what got you through the hardship? Chicken essence? Coffee? Planning for things to do after exams? Getting good grades? Not letting your parents down? Getting ahead in life? Hmm... Now I'm suggesting a bit too much.

I think making a list of things to do after you burn your notes is the best thing you can do! I have been doing this since secondary school and usually I don't accomplish half the things on the list. BUT! This time is different! Because I am in Australia and most likely won't be coming back here after graduation. Not anytime soon anyway. So I will try to do all that I had stated! And have lots of fun! My partner-in-crime is P. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

131106 Campuses

After handing in my final assignment, which, by the way, was a bitch to do, P and I set out for a school tour early early in the morning. 9am is waaaaayyyyyy too early for me anyway. But those who know me know I function best when I lack sleep; I'm at my most hyper and crappy. Pity P, eh?

After a cup of strong Jarraffa coffee and a weird shortcake, we took the train to visit UQ's Ipswich campus. Zone 1 to 4 leh. Happening.

Don't steal my bag!

En route to Ipswich, we saw lots of graffiti on the walls along the track. Firstly, I wondered how those people get there. Secondly, I wondered why they can be so beautiful (most of them anyway). Thirdly, I wondered whether they are art or vandalism. Fourthly, I wondered why people did it. Fifthly, I wondered what exactly they were writing. Hmm... Remember watching an episode of SVU before where one of the kids like to draw graffiti. I suspect it's because of the thrill of getting caught. Isn't that the reason why lots of people do what they are not supposed to and don't really need to do it anyway? Hmm...

Ah. We reached Ipswich about 30 minutes later? I cannot remember. First impression of Ipswich: it seemed to house the older population. While we were waiting for the bus to arrive, we saw lots of elderly folks. Do you think in Singapore we seldom see elderly people by themselves on the road? Here, it's quite the opposite. Senior citizens are very mobile and are more commonly seen. Everywhere. We pondered it over for a while and concluded that in Singapore, most elderly rather be out with family (especially grandchildren) or not out at all.

Recently, I watch a show about the aging population in UK. They followed the lives of some old men and women who were living in a old folks home. They are not those in 60s or 70s; most were in 80s or had illnesses that rendered them immobile. One had cancer. She went back to her hometown after spending decades in UK. Shortly after she returned to UK, she passed away. Another was a lady who married at 40 and her husband passed away shortly after. She was left to look after his elderly parents. She did not have any kids.

I wait everyday. I wait for death to come. I am sick of waiting.

A 90 year-old man was also featured. He had a dog who had to be put down because of old age. It happened around Christmas. And it was one of the few Chrismases when his son and grandchildren went skiing, instead of spending it at home. So he was alone. However, he had an electronic buggy that he could drive to his son's house a short distance away. After his 90th birthday, his mental capability deteriorated. He was told that he should not continue using his buggy because his judgement was compromised. He died soon after.

I want to die before I become a nuisance to anyone.

It made me think about life. You cannot stop yourself from getting old, falling ill, and eventually dying. I guess nearing the end of your life, strong social, family support is important. If you are no longer mobile, with the freedom to come and go as you wish, I think it's scary.

I seriously digressed. Hmm...

Well. We arrived at Ipswich and gave up our seat at the bus-stop to an ah pek. He looked surprised. A short journey later, we finally reached the campus.

Woohoo!!!

Ipswich campus is the newest of the three campuses. It is small, compared to the other two. Walking around the compound, we realised there was no one around! I think for the first half hour, we saw about 5 people. That's rather a lot for a university, don't you think?

Ipswich campus used to be an asylum. So you can imagine that the architecture is unique for a university. Most buildings are single-storey. There is an emphasis on having lots of grass patches all over the campus. I think they brought the au naturel theme into the library too.

The 'forest' library.

Boy, was it a hot day. Luckily we brought the leftover pizzas we made the previous night. We made 12 so I'm glad there was leftovers. Wouldn't do to finish all 12! x: We took the inter-campus bus to go to Gatton, which was about 45 minutes away. *gasps*

Lots of rubbishing in the mini-bus that brought us there. At a fee of course. $3 for the trip from Ipswich to Gatton, $6 for our return trip from Gatton to Indooroopilly. In case you are wondering, you can get the tickets from the school bookshop. I highly recommend the trip because it's almost like a day tour at a fraction of the price. Without the commentary of course. Do check the timetable because the schedule is very irregular. About 3hours interval? And only during school term.

We arrived! Arrived!!!

I think this is supposed to be a water feature, but with the drought in Queensland, I supposed they were not allowed to operate this. Good!

Ipswich is where some business, social sciences, arts courses are held. Gatton is all about the primary industries. Mining, animal studies, agriculture. Very interesting. NEVER GET TO SEE IN SINGAPORE AND WILL NEVER GET TO SEE. EVER! EVAR!!!

Don't regret later. Go now! We chose a hot day to go 'sight-seeing'. Gatton was hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. I doubt we covered half the compound because many areas are where the animals were housed. We saw cows and horses. At one glance, you can see we stood out like sore thumbs. Because we wore accessories. The people there do not dress up. Won't be a pretty sight getting your necklace snared in the horse's mane, will it? +_+

I ain't riding no horse so STOP look at me like that!

Never have I been so thankful for the invention of air-con. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Interesting to explore, but like Ipswich, not many people were around. Saw less than 15 during the hour or so we were there. Hmm... Not used to not seeing people around though I suspect I will get culture shock when I go back to Singapore. The irony.

When you travel in a vehicle, what do you do? Some people sleep. Others yak. I like to see the scenery. We discussed houses and architecture, pointing out the numerous pie shops along the way and wondering how people get to their houses that did not appear to have any tarred roads. Very fascinating to city kids like us. Lots of weird theories came up. 1 hour 45 minutes later, we were at Indooroopilly, where we were going to have dinner. Almost. Still had to take a bus to Miss India. Miss India sells awesome, awesome naan. Best!!! Vindoloo curry really is hot. *blows flames* Remember, eat spicy stuff, poo poo also will be spicy wor. The burning feeling, not the taste! What do you take me for???

141106 Ferry

After so much walking in the sun, we decided a slow cruise along Brisbane River should be next on our agenda. We are trying to squeeze everything within this week because our student concession pass expires on Sat. ): No more half price for public transport. Boo!

The Story Bridge. You can climb it at a price of AUD150+++ I think. Slowly walk ba!

We didn't really have a destination in mind. Perhaps New Farm would be a good place to go. Friend once told me that there were roses there. Not interested. So long as we can get brekky!

When we reached, all we saw was this beautiful, but quite inedible park. Where to get food? Looks like residential area all around. Ah well. Cannot find food still must take picture first. I think we were amusing this cyclist nearby. He sat on his bicycle while we took pictures with the signs. Been there, pic that! Sine he had some amusement, we figured he wouldn't mind answering our $64 million question: where can we find food. He had a good, ready answer.

Expensive or cheap food?

Righto! Best comeback yet! Very nice of him to give us suggestions according to price. Must have figured we were poor students, looking even poorer with our lack of brekky. Haha!!! He pointed us down the road to the 'mall'. We walked down the road and sat at the first eatery we saw: a fish & chips shop. Not quite at the mall but dammit! Hungry!!! ARRRRRRRR!!!

The food was not bad. The breeze was nice. As usual, not many people around. We turned our gossiping to the guy working in the shop. He was skinny, and I thought he looked like the guy from Prison Break. The bad guy that is. Hmm... Better not be going back there lest he sees this. Haha!!!

We walked around for a bit and saw that the Powerhouse is in the vicinity. I think it's where they have concerts, plays and the likes. We ventured bravely and saw yet more graffiti. And headed into this discussion about whether graffiti should be made legal. Like in Singapore, where they allowed graffiti artist to create their works at the Youth Park. But this is such a Singaporean thinking, isn't it? To legalise or not. I suspect if graffiti is legalise, it will no longer appeal to those who draw because they like the thrill. The world is a complicated place.

"Flood" doesn't seem like an auspicious word when you are near the river.

When we were walking back to the ferry terminal, we spotted bikini girls! I went to caress her! Cannot resist!!!

Shh... She's sound asleep.

We took the ferry to Bretts Wharf where some great seafood places are supposed to be. And we went back towards where we came from. Here's the bridge again, no idea what the "story" is:

Headed home early. Only to go to the park to jog 10 rounds!!! Happening. My life is happening! It is!!! *massages aching legs*

Dinner couldn't be better, though could have been faster.

Grilled chicken with fetta and spinach and with mushroom and mozzarella. MMMMMMMM!!!

More updates soon! About raining hail wor!!!

Let's melt

For my reference

To do list:
- Ipswich
- Gatton
- The Gap
- Chermside
- Garden City
- Hungry Jacks Party
- KTV & Gold Coast Sunrise (14th)

- Botanic Gardens
- Melbourne (22nd - 28th)
- Gold Coast (1st - 6th)
- Convocation (4th)
- Cherrabah Farmstead (6th - 8th)
- Harbourtown
- Byron Bay Gliding

My life happening leh. Yours leh? Muahahahaha!

很够力

One more! One bloody one that is. Very bad language in the text; 'utilizes' all the bad words my writing class lecturer taught NOT to use. 'Solid' ah!

The end is near

Later, at 5.45pm, I will be sitting for the second last exam of my Master's course. Tuesday, after 2pm, I will be a exam-free bird.

Last semester liao, still got exams. And lots of assignments. Just handed in one yesterday. Previous semesters only 1 exam each.

Shit. Eraser shit.

Profoundness

Good looking people who think they are good looking are no longer good looking.

No?

We are decorators

P baked a cake for M. I added the stick figure. Someone thought the cake says "30". Someone is dumb.

It's still not cut.