CNY Day

On Chinese New Year's Day I went to church, it was not like at home where everyone serving on stage was Indian or still in KL. Church here was jam packed and we had a guest speaker.

You will not guess who i bumped into in church, It was Rebbecca Wong AKA Becky Wong
she was there alone so she joined us for lunch.

After church we went for Korean Lunch (The closest we can get to chinese food).

Welcoming the Year of the Golden pig in Melbourne

This year CNY was very different for me, There was no open house visitation and no ang pow the most important thing about CNY. There was no friends to hang around with and miss going to villie's house for tea and aunty Hannah pulling me behind th church either before or after service to give me an Ang Pow.

The was no Ee sand tossing (Hopefully i will remain my long life). I know God will still sustain me. Miss last years celebration where I went to Kim Moi's House, Pas Seok's House also Raymond's House and all the other people I visited last year.

This year there was not really an opportunity to wish anyone Sin Yen Kwai Le(I think that's how it is pronounced). but 1 of my church mate made pineapple tarts and penut butter cookies it was awesome.

On the eve of CNY I was in my Aunt's place where we had beacon and eggs for breakfast and for lunch we had some food like those we will have back home at Thurkah's.

In the evening me and my sis was headed towards town, and decided we will stop by Bourke street where china town was. The place was jam packed and the sound of the fire works was enough to make u deaf and then we say a herd of people following the Lion. haha it was cool.

Same like back in Malaysia, it was extremely hot here where the peak was 38 degrees.

These are some pictures taken from China Town

Friday

Yesterday was a long day for me. I woke up at 7.30 in the morning so that i can follow my uncle to the train station where i will head to the city.

My class only starts at 5pm, but i was going early to help Justin Wong to move house. I arrived at the 10am in the city and headed straight to QV, where my gym is located to place my bags in the locker.

Then I headed straight to justin's place to meet him and shamim a long time friend back in Malaysia. So we headed straight to rent a van to help us help justin to move house.

Justin was moving from Caufield to the City, just close by to Melbourne University which is like 5 min walk from my sisters place, So we are practically neighbors now.

After loading up the van, we went for lunch, then back to Justin's new place to upload the stuff.
We were done by 4 pm, then I rushed to the gym to shower and also iron my uniform.

Then rushed down to college for my 5 pm class, my class ended at about 9.30 pm and I call my sister to find that my cousins 13th birthday had just started.

So I got a train down to Glenn Hauntly where my cousin came and picked me up.

Went over to my uncle's house for dinner and then headed to my aunt's house where me and my sister stayed the night.

Dessert Class

1 Week of college is over and I am piled up on assignments. I get a Thursday off during the week and on Wednesdays I make desserts and Friday nights I do commercial cookery.

Last Wednesday we did 2 desserts, Poach pears and white wine jelly with fruits

Bak Kut Teh

I was Dreaming of Bak Kut Teh. Was not really untill Vincent told me he bryan and josh were going to klang to have it.

So I went to buy some pork meat and pork ribs to make myself some bak kut teh.

It was almost as good and the bak kut teh at jalan Ipoh only the Tou Pok that I bought was horrible.
And to complete the great meal, I made apple pie it was great.

St Kilda Festival

Last sunday was totally great. We ( me and my sis) went to St Kilda's Festival. During the summer, many festivals are held throughout Melbourne and the St Kilda Festival is one of them. It is called the St Kilda Festival mainly because it is held in St Kilda by the sea side.

Below I will Show you some of the great pictures i captured with my tiny phone.


Try looking at the photo above and try to guess how many people there are in there. I thing there must be thousands, Looked like we were walking up towards an ant hill.
We had to push ourselves through sooooo many people and fight the intensively strong wind to walk towards the festival.

we started our journey from home of cause then we walked up victoria street toward swanston.
from swanston we grab the no 15 tram to the festival. The journey took us approximately 45 minuets.

After arriving there and making our way through the stampede of people I saw the most interesting game. Have a look see.
What do you think that is?
Any Idea?
There are actually 2 people in the ball being catapult towards the sky.It is just like bungee jumping but instead of jumping down, you are being tossed into the air. It must be scary. The ride cost $30 it was too expensive for my pocket, so I did not try it.

Then we passed by some people who were just sitting around and enjoying the strong wind and the hot sun.


Look how strong the wind was. it looked like the trees were going to be uprooted.

Then there were more rides

We got home at 12 midnight that night and was exhausted. I had a class at 8.30 the next morning and was afraid I could not wake up in time for class.

Overall the festival was a blast.

PIPI

I have not posted anything for along time cause I was packed up on the week end and 2 days
so that day on saturday (Thats where I will start) we went to springvale so we bought PIPI (aka Lala aka Surf Clams) so when we came back I cooked pipi for dinner. the photos will explain it self. It tasted sooooooo gooooooooood, I cooked it with belacan and garlic stalks.

Springvale

This morning me and my sister was planing to have pancakes for breakfast and after go shopping to get some stuff for me, but at 8.30 her friend Soo Fung called and ask if we would like to follow her to springvale.

Springvale is a Vietnamese town where marketing can be done at a reasonable price.

Today we purchased pork to make Bak Kut Teh and wan ton.

The place has several malls but they do not sell clothes but seafood, meat, fruits and vege.

These are the few thing we saw this morning.

Hoyts

Last night my sister took me for a treat to watch a movie.

We went down to Melbourne central to watch pursuit to happyness, lead actor Will smith and his son.

The story is based on a true story, for further info on the movie please go and read it by yourself
here.

Damm the cinema was awesome, This is the first time when i am seated I dont have to stand up to let someone go by. There is ample leg room and the seat are huge. If wan Tze and Hui min plans to catch the show together they can buy 1 seat and it will be sufficient. See for yourself

Sir William Angliss Centre

Hi guys and gals, This here is my college. Orientation week went well and i almost did not have a class, My course coordinator was placing students into their classes based on the old name list he was holding.

As I was a last minute addition to this batch, surprise my name was not on the list and I was not assigned to any class or group.

I was feeling devastated at that moment, but what can I do? what should I do? the course coordinator told me to go home and it was his mistake, of cause he apologist to me and told me to come back on Monday at 11 to know which class he has placed me in.

I went back and thought over it, then it click my mind " the place cannot be full cause the program office are watching the number of applicants closely" then i text my coordinator and advised him to compare the new list and old list to see which are the students that are not in the list anymore.

Then he calls me to inform me that he had already arranged a place for me and i start at 8 on Monday. Phew that was a releave...................

My visit to MCG

Yesterday after a boring day of orientation, we (The pastry and cookery group of students) were informed to comeback tomorrow which is today at 8.30 as we were going on an excursion.

The first thing that cross my mind or any of my other course mates were that we were going to visit a factory called MCG where we were going to see some cooking process or people who are working in the hotel industry.

This morning we gathered at the college at 8.30 in the morning. We thought we were waiting for the bus. Then at 9 o'clock this guy named Andrew gathered us together and split us into 4 groups, so all the pastry students went together.

We taught we were walking to a bus pick up point, to our surprise we walked for 1 hour and there was no bus, then as we were walking we saw the sign board MCG "Melbourne Cricket Ground".

So we were not going to see any kitchen, we were going for an excursion to the MCG. ha ha we were fooled.

So these are the things i saw:

This is the Pitching ground, the stadium can seat
up to 100,000.00 people. the tour guide said that the most people that this stadium contained was 100,022.00 people. awesome isn't it









This is a life size statue of Sir Donald Bradman the legendary cricket player in Melbourne


















This is the view from the the top and ground of the stadium





























This is one of Melbourne born players

And this is how the stadium looked like when it was opened. This is the first stadium where the first test was hit. The guide was saying that every time there was a new technology, the government will tear down a portion of the stadium and reconstruct.


After the long walk we headed back home, and it wasn't that bad. At least I have visited the place tourist and locals head to on the weekends. The 1956 Olympic games was also held at this stadium.

The answer to "Guess What"

It is a bagel, not any bagel but a blueberry bagel, When I first saw it my impression was "I am not eating that it is blue"

But after toasting it and spreading cream cheese, Hmmmmm it is awsome. So Edwin don't spread butter but cream cheese is soooooooo great.

Victoria Market

This is the spotlight of the city, You can get everything form

• Meat
• Fish
• Seafood
• Chicken
• Fruits
• Vegetable
• Clothes
• Socks
• Shoes
• Bags
• Souvenirs
  
• Cooked food
• and many many more

But the secret about this place is walk around and compare prices as the deeper you go the cheaper it is. It reminds me a lot of Petaling Street.

If you come to Melbourne, this is one of the must visit spots. And guess what I live opposite it.
HAhahahahaHAHHAhaha

Guess What this is

My Journey to IKEA

Today I woke up at 10 to go to Richmond AOG to meet my sis. I had to board this tram,


I was meeting her so that we can go to IKEA together. After service we decided to go down Victoria street to this Vietnamese place for lunch.


And to our surprise the whole street was closed as they were celebrating the LUNAR NEW YEAR. it was cool. I have this weird sandwich for lunch but it tasted awesome.

Then due to the road closure all trams were stopped and replaced by buses, the bus was paked like a sardine can. then we arrived at IKEA and did some shopping

On the way home we saw the sign board saying "20 minuet hand wash for 14.90"
It was the most expensive place to wash your hands. haha (It is actually a Car wash using their hands)


Now I am headed off to churc to attend service, will update more later

Cheers

Today's A B-E-A-U-tiful day

After a hot day yesterday, the weather today was splendid, hitting 29 degrees the cool wind brushed against your face when you walk.

Today I woke up at 1 pm(I know it is kind of late but I slept at 3 am) the i walked to Victoria Market to buy some fruits, for 5$ I got 4 pears, 4 peaches, 5 apples and 6 banana's.
Isn't that great.

Then my sister called and ask me to meet her in the city so that we can do our grocery shopping, so we shopped till my hands nearly disconnected carrying the items.

But thank got I made it home in 1 peace.

At 8.10 pm i took this shot, See how beautiful and bright it is.

I am planning to go to bed early tonight as there is a long day ahead of me tomorrow.

I am going to IKEA to grab a few stuff.........

Till then, Thats all folks

BBQ for Nonci's Farewell

Last night i went for a farewell party of my sister's friend who is leaving for Perth to study.

The food was awesome, Like the party at my place it was a potluck.
I made bbq pineapple dipped into chocolate sauce (Many ppl's favorite)

Anyway we had to take a 45 min bus ride there and back, on the way back the bus driver informed that his petrol was finishing and needed to be refilled or we will need to push the bus.

So he stopped us at this deserted place which look like a bus grave yard as there was no shops or ppl around. I was dark and scary.

Anyway he got a new bus and we continued our journey to flinder's where we will catch the tram back home.

Hot Day in Melbourne

To day is 31 degrees, not that bad quite tolerant. I had to go down to smith street where the NIKE factory outlet resided, so that i can purchase my new pair of shoes.

As my luggage was overweight i could not bring my pair of nike's so i bought a new one.
tomorrow i am going to the gym (Fitness first) where i am now a proud platinum member.

So no matter which part of the world i am in I can go to the gym

My resolution for this year is to loose weight

hope it happens

thats all for now.... I am off to a bbq tonight will update you when I come back.

My Melbourne Journey

My journey was a long and tiring one, It started in Malaysia when i was at KLIA 1st of all my luggage was overweight and the check in counter did not want to let me go through, so with the help of Samuel and Vincent I had to repack my luggage at the airport. (I forgot to put in my sport shoes) after that we went to McD's to grab a bite as I had not had lunch. Going down the escalator I turned around to say good bye to Samuel Chin, Jireh Ho, Sirn Loong, Vincent and Kevin.

After passing the Malaysia customs I headed to the Train to board my Plane......
The ride to Singapore where I was to take a transit plain lasted for 45 minutes.

Although I have gone to Singapore several times, This was my first time entering the Airport. And to my surprise I had a 20 min walk + Train ride to reach my check in counter at Terminal 1. As I was checking in the Singaporean custom could not accept my VISA as it was their first time checking in with an E-VISA. After several phone calls my access was granted.

The guy checking my passport looked at me several times then said "Remove your glasses please" then looked at me several times again, before handing me the passport he look at me again as though I did no own the passport.

Then I boarded my plane which will send me to Perth where I will transfer to a plane to Melbourne. The journey took 6 hours and who said Quantas had larger seats? It is just like Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines, But I must admit that the movies are clearer on Quantas.

After a long and tiring journey I arrived at the Perth International Airport at 2.10am local time. And Lo and Behold i had to take a 20 min Cab ride to the Domestic airport to transit to Melbourne, The cab cost me A$ 20 (MYR60) what the crap.

Then I boarded my plane at 6.10 local time to head to Melbourne and it was a small 737 where I had to sit next to a huge guy and that was he most uncomfortable 5 hours flight I ever had.

Then I arrived at Melbourne and headed straight to my sister's house where i slept until my sister come which was 6pm local time.