Work It Like a Rawk Star, Baby!

Way Away

2006-05-29T17:47:00.000+08:00

Yes! Presents still coming in the mail! Yay!
At about 12.15pm today, just as Michelle suggested we go down the Angelo Street for lunch, Mr Mailman arrived with a parcel from Tim!
My PIMP from Michigan got me the funniest card, and prepared a really stirring collection of photos in a groovy frame. It is so sweet that he picked up on my love of photos scattered around the house...

This will be a great addition to the collection, but how narcissistic is this? Haha... This is one sure-fire way to make sure someone never forgets you!

The card:

Inside; I seriously love the caption!

Notice how he thinks I'm still 22? Bless his heart for making me a year younger...

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Thanks, Tim! Love you to bits!

It's My Birthday!

2006-05-10T23:30:00.000+08:00

First things first, a big THANK YOU to Michelle, my beloved housemate, who bothered to help me plan my birthday and surprise me with a party the weekend before as well!
I'll never forget this, my dear!
And my next housemate will have a lot to live up to! :D

Originally, Michelle and I were simply to have friends over to our place for nibbles before all of us went to watch Brian's play Tiger Pass Gate. She'd always told me there would be 15 of us, but of course, it didn't occur to me that there were only 14 people at the house. That was just the tip of the iceberg really. It seems she had told everyone that this wasn't just a get together, and that they were all there to celebrate my birthday as well! A few of them came into the house saying "Happy Birthday," but those few were the same people I had invited to dinner and a movie screening the following Tuesday (yesterday) so I just assumed they had mistaken this for the dinner. Anyway, next thing I knew, after washing the dishes, I came out of the kitchen all greasy and damp to Michelle, Libby, Sandora and Esther bringing in a cake with candles and the whole bunch singing a birthday song! ALL FOR ME! I couldn't be happier at the time!

The cake Libby got me:

The whole bunch; Luis was taking the picture so unfortunately I can't feature him. From left to right; Libby, Esther, Sandora, Penka, Petra, Rosita, Jeff, Me, Michelle, Mark, Charlie, Wai Ling, and Melissa:

After nibbles, we went off to Brian's play (which was very entertaining, by the way) and it seems Michelle had another surprise in store for me. Earlier in the week, I had called Russell to invite him to watch the play with us. He turned me down, saying he'd be working late that night. From what I found out, Michelle had called him before I did and coerced Russ into lying to me when I did eventually invite him! Bloody sneaky people, but I love them even more for doing this!

Of course, yesterday was my proper birthday and I had prebooked tickets at the Gold Class lounge at Innaloo's Greater Union cinema to watch Mission: Impossible 3. Of course, what would a birthday be without good food and so, with a worthy recommendation from Mark, we had Indian at the Cinnamon Club in Leederville where presents galore awaited me.

Me reading the card from Michelle and Mark:

Michelle and I with the bunch of presents she got for me. She's really done too much, this girl. And yes, that's a pink rubber dildo she's pointing to:

Brian, Me and Michelle for another round with the "orgasmic" dildo:

More dinner guests, from back row to front, left to right; Charlie, Wai Ling, Mark, Michelle, Brian, and Me:

Unfortunately, I was so happy I forgot to take pictures with our other dinner guests Libby and Victor, and Russell when he met us at the cinema. Silly me!

Here's a review of what I got last night-

Flowers from Libby & Victor (they wrote me a beautiful card too):

And the presents from Michelle. Like I said, she overdid it! A Nine West bag:

Which contained the pink dildo, the "French Women Don't Get Fat" book, and the card with the picture of me and a kangaroo. The dog card came from Charlie and Wai Ling and the cat card came from Libby and Victor. How sweet are these people?

Selected photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Love Generation

2006-04-27T13:18:00.000+08:00

Saw a link from Brian's Xanga site that led to a pretty funny love quiz.
I thought his results were hilarious and assumed mine would be too.
What a hype-up that was! Not only were my results the most un-funny thing I've read in a while, it had some grain of truth to it all as well.
Yeah yeah, I hear you; I'm all sour grapes!

The Sonnet
Deliberate Gentle Love Dreamer (DGLDf)

Romantic, hopeful, and composed. You are the Sonnet. Get it? Composed? (no, I don't actually.)

Sonnets want Love and have high ideals about it. They're conscientious people, caring & careful. You yourself have deep convictions, and you devote a lot of thought to romance and what it should be. This will frighten away most potential mates, (like I didn't know that already!) but that's okay, because you're very choosy with your affections anyway. You'd absolutely refuse to date someone dumber than you, for instance. (so bloody true this line!)

Your exact opposite:
Genghis Khunt

Random Brutal Sex Master

Lovers who share your idealized perspective, or who are at least willing to totally throw themselves into a relationship, will be very, very happy with you. And you with them. (yes, I'm sure alot of men out there are more than willing to THROW themselves into a relationship. Even I would run a mile on hearing this!) You're already selfless and compassionate, and with the right partner, there's no doubt you can be sensual, even adventurously so. (blah blah blah)

You probably have lots of female friends, and they have a special soft spot for you. Babies do, too, at the tippy-top of their baby skulls. (what the?!?!)

ALWAYS AVOID: The 5-Night Stand, The False Messiah, The Hornivore, The Last Man on Earth

CONSIDER: The Loverboy

The Loverboy?! Ugh, the name alone turns me off!
Do the quiz yourself here.

Never Gonna Come Back Down

2006-04-22T01:27:00.000+08:00

Wednesday found us back in Margaret River for more filming and this time, Michelle had the better half of her crew down with her. This time as well, I was to help with sound and my old bud Brian was gonna be an actor/ host in the video.
This round was more interesting but more tiring as well with the long hours and hectic schedule. And I forgot my jacket, how smart of me. Here's a quick look at what we did.

Brian drives Michelle, Ayu and Yessy to Margaret River:

While I get a ride from separate crewmember Dave, blasting metal music all the way down. I was swearing at Brian and gang as we passed them just before this shot:

Michelle and Yessy work on the shot list the first night:

While the rest of us play Scrabble!

Of course, we all get stuck eventually; here's Dave with his frustrating set of letters (from which I later suggest the word "pubic");

Brian with his vowels;

Ayu with her diseases;

My sickening luck yet again with the Ws, Z, X and Q;

And the boys doing their best "Blue Steel" impression from the agony:

Us filming at Voyager Estate; me holding the boom pole:

The new crew in Voyager's rose garden; Yessy (director of photography), Ayu (sound technician), & Michelle (producer):

Of course, how could we resist more shots right?

Pseudo newlyweds Brian & Michelle:

Michelle & I doing the quintessential women-amongst-the-roses stint:

Us girls just being monkeys:

And a group shot in Voyager's garden with Australia's second-largest flag:

That night, it was freezing so Brian and I started a fire for the rest to warm their toes. We rock!

The second morning and we're filming the sunrise; on top of the Land Cruiser, no less:

The sun breaking through:

On the way back, we met my new friend Sloppy:

And his scarily massive Dad:

We stopped by Busselton on the way home to have lunch and snap a few shots of that famous jetty (excuse the badly stitched photo). I know it's tiny in this photo, but it's that black line on the horizon. Click here to see a larger version of this picture;

The coast;

Brian and me;

And one last group shot:

Ayu, Yessy and me in the back of the Land Cruiser before falling asleep:

Selected photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

We hope we don't ever have to come back to Margaret River for filming!
But for a getaway, food and wine, definitely!

International Affair

2006-04-14T11:28:00.000+08:00

Yesterday night, we had the International Students Committee's first-ever International Ball and the finals of Curtin Idol. It was a fabulous night and everyone had heaps of fun. It is our most successful event this semester and I am proud to say that I played a significant part of it as Backstage Manager. While myself and my crew didn't get to see all the performances like the other volunteers did, we had our fun drinking and dancing the night away!
Let's hope they make it an annual thing and carry on with the tradition.

The stage:

Our reception and the guests pouring in:

VIP Professor Kevin McKenna and ISC PR representative Dwayne Augustin:

Some very happy dudes from UWA:

Our video crew for the night; ISC Deputy Convenor Michelle Mok and ISC PR Officer Libby Chang:

Guests and crew; a Sri Lankan girl, her friend Sharmela, ISC HR Officer Gagandeep Brah, and ISC Events representative Ong Kim Huat:

"Kilt guy," and his friends from UWA:

ISC PR people Angsana Chatchaipolrat, Amrita Balachandran, Christian Pradayrol, and Nalaka Jinas:

Guests Esther, Sandora & Yosuke:

Guests Dorothy (right) and friend:

Curtin Idol finalist Christopher's fans and girlfriend:

Guests Dave, and Paul & Melanie from AIESEC:

Inside; The Singapore Connections and AIESEC table:

The Curtin Idols table:

My buddy Brian emcees our event; check out that mug:

The lion dance by Chung Wah Association. They did it quite different from back home so that was not as boring as I had expected:

A b-boy battle ala "You've Got Served" style:

Didn't have too many good photos of the Curtin Idols performing because they kept moving so much. Nonetheless, here's the winner, Katherine Curnow:

Most of the good stuff is on video, and I will try and show those to you all as soon as I can put them up. If not, I'm sure more photos will arrive on my desk in drips and drabs and hopefully I'll update this post with them soon.

More interestingly, after that hectic night, I have a count of seven bruises on my body. I know how I got three of them, the rest I'm totally clueless about!
The more interesting ones I found are these on both my hands:

Selected photos  International Students Committee
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

I'm choosing to refer to them as "stigmata" for now since it's Good Friday and all! I teased my Mum that I've got more of them on my ankles and under my right ribs as well, make her think I'm the "chosen one". Haha...

Trash

2006-04-05T16:25:00.000+08:00

Spotted the people from University of Western Australia's Prosh publication:

Photo hosted by: www.flickr.com

They basically publish a newspaper that takes the piss out of everything. Pretty interesting, I must say...

Take Me Out To the Ball Game

2006-03-31T23:07:00.000+08:00

Brian, a buddy from an old film production who now lives in Perth, took me to a rugby game. He also invited this friend of mine and Michelle's, Melissa, to join us.
The game was between The Stormers and Western Force and it was pretty great. Reminded me of the times in secondary school when we used to play girls' rugby.

Western Force:

Stormers:

The crowd at the stadium:

Melissa, Brian and his drunk friend Tim:

One happy Western Force fan:

Half-time and an interview with the Force mascot:

Western Force scores!

Man of the match Lake Watson of the Stormers; this attracted alot of boos from the crowd:

And the final result; sad that the Force lost but hey, what can we say?

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Fun, fun, fun!

Drink To Get Drunk

2006-03-29T21:16:00.000+08:00

I've been in Margaret River the last three days and although I was helping Michelle with her Film & Television Unit production - and the fact that her crew was made up of a bunch of morons - we did manage to have quite a bit of fun!
We came home with crazy amounts of wine and some other souvenirs from Cape Lavender. The country is beautiful and I really wish I could be driving down those roads whenever I felt like it and not have to depend on someone else to take me there. It's a great way to clear your head.

This project Michelle is working on involves real clients from the Wine Industry Association of Western Australia, which generally means it's a huge deal to get things right and do the best job possible! Unfortunately for her, she got stuck with several idiots who didn't have the basic sense and initiative to do things such as equipment checks and form submissions. I agreed to come along to help out and hopefully ease her worries, and I truly hope I did. Of course, getting a chance to return to Margaret River after nine years isn't too bad either! Anyway, back to the trip.

We left on Friday afternoon after picking up the film equipment from university and arrived at our free accommodation at about 10pm. Yup, the WIAWA arranged for us to stay at Juniper Estate in this really big place with four bedrooms and space for 10 people! Not too shabby:

The doorway:

The resident bee:

The living room:

The complimentary wine and the sweet note they left us:

Michelle very happy with the wine (obviously):

We had an early day the next day so we decided to sleep early.

We woke up the next morning and opened our back door to find Jeepers, the winemaker's dog, who came to play a round of fetch:

The huge sign at the Juniper vineyards we blatantly disregarded to take pictures with the grapes and vines:

Our first vineyard was Amberley Estate. It's a huge winery and they were well prepared to bring us around their facility to show us the ropes to winemaking.
They were just one of many vineyards in Margaret River who had a late picking because of the erratic weather this season.

Notice how they cover their vines with the netting? They do that so those pesky little birds don't get a chance to peck at the grapes and destroy the whole bunch. Ah yes, just one of the many things we learnt along the way:

The beautiful grapes the netting hides:

Some of their discarded oak barrels:

Amberley's lab for testing sugar levels, etc:

Some of their pumps; named according to their size for easier reference:

The very photogenic Amberley cellar. Of course, it's temperature controlled and therefore great to film in. And the place smelt incredible with remnants of freshley oaked chardonnay in the air:

An oak barrel with explanations of what all those symbols and words mean:

What natural cork really looks like:

The range of wines available for tasting. Amberley had some of the best wines I'd tasted on the entire trip. I love their chardonnay and dessert wine:

Michelle and crew filming a wine tasting demonstration at the cellar door:

After Amberley, we went off to Watershed to take some other shots of their vineyard. We were hoping to capture the sunset only to find out that the sun wouldn't set over the lake like we were informed. We made the most of our trip down by taking a tour of their premises, and filming their restaurant and the excellent view they had from the restaurant veranda:

The Watershed lab and the winemaker testing the sugar levels:

Michelle (Lee) and Michelle (Mok) filming wedding preparations at Watershed's restaurant:

We scooted off after Watershed and went to Prevelly to film the sunset. That's along the beautiful southern coast:

Christine (scriptwriter), me, and Michelle Lee (director of photography):

The coast:

Perfect for a spot of fishing:

Or for washing the dog:

The surreal sunset:

And our ongoing efforts to capture it:

After that, we went off to grab some grub and had yet another early night in preparation for our pre-dawn departure the next morning.

It was the second morning and we had to go to Ashbrook to film handpicking of Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Don't ask me what's the difference between Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay grapes because the viticulturalist baffled me with that one!

The vines ready to be picked into those black buckets:

Some red grapes nearby on other vines:

The pickers hard at work:

Michelle filming the tractor:

Me helping her carry the Sony DSR-500 simply because it weighs a bloody tonne! I think I could potentially pose as a great video journalist or paparazzi with this look:

The picking snips they use to cut the bunches of grapes off the vine:

The tool table and first aid kit. The chalk is used by the pickers to mark their buckets so they get paid for the correct number of buckets:

The bucket/ picking tally:

Some safety tips for the pickers:

Tony (the owner) and his helpers tallying the buckets for the pickers while tossing the grapes into the de-stemmer:

Freshly-squeezed Sauvignon Blanc juice:

Tony offering me a taste of the juice; it was incredibly sweet and light. Lovely!

The white grape skins and seeds from the press; obviously it misses one or two, but I suppose that's good for the cows that get to munch on this on the farms:

Tony in the back of the cellar labelling some of the bottled wines:

And me being an arse in the wine barrel. They're mostly great for growing small herb gardens:

Our KIA Carnival:

Me with the Ashbrook forklift. It had the coolest purring sound, not like those scary rumbling ones you'd expect:

Leaving Ashbrook , we made our way to our 4th vineyard, Clairault.

A big, fat kingfisher greeted us at the entrance:

And then, there was Jack Martin, the owner's friendly but women-shy dog:

Cute isn't he?

And he's famous enough to have a painting of him in the restaurant!

After a bit of filming in Clairault, where our camera batteries went dead, we went to Cape Lavender since we were still too early for our next appointment for our recce of Sandalford Wines.

Michelle and I by the pond at Cape Lavender:

We had to scurry off after a quick lunch and a spot of shopping at Cape Lavender soon after this shot.

At Sandalford, we met viticulturalist Peter and he showed us the slight differences between different grape species and how they can tell us which grape produces which wine (if that made sense):

Peter:

It was time to go home after Sandalford (but not before a short stopover for a few goodbyes and parting shots at Ashbrook).

Along the way, we met these fat pheasants;

This nicely canopied road;

And these sheep:

This guy was giving me hell lot of attitude!

Selected photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

We returned to Perth at about 7pm, tired but satisfied.
I'm in love with the beer I got from Cape Lavender!

Final Shakedown

2006-03-24T19:22:00.000+08:00

Oh and if anyone was wondering, here are the finalists for the Curtin Idol competition, left to right; Jody Prastiwo, Brad Ackland, Katherine Curnow, Christopher Lee, & Edwin Wee:

Photo  International Students Committee
Photo hosted by: www.flickr.com

The finals will be held at the ISC's International Ball in April so watch for my blog on that. Also, if anyone is sharp enough to spot him and wants clarification - yes, that is Christopher Lee from the Singapore Idol finals, a.k.a. Chrissy Poo! Hahaha... He still remembers me from secondary school which is funny because I used to tease and bully him!

There's Nothing Like This

2006-03-24T14:14:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, we had a full-on day in University. Our International Students Committee's ongoing efforts finally culminated in the Harmony in Diversity Carnival and the Curtin Idol Semi-finals.
It hasn't been the easiest month because there have been an inexcusable number of screw-ups during the planning of the event, but whatever the case, it all came together and worked out.

The day started at 4pm with the Curtin Idol Semi-finals at The Tavern. I missed the first hour of it because I was still in class, but managed to catch my favourite performers from the auditions, held about two weeks before.

The MCs Taf and Brian with my HAND-PAINTED banner. Mind you, that wasn't easy!

The judges, from left to right; Brenda Lee (established jazz singer), Simone Armstrong (classical music teacher), and Fozzil Jaffar (frontman of local band, Q):

One of the strongest singers from the auditions, Katherine Curnow:

My favourite of the lot; crooner Brad Ackland. He sings Sinatra likes nobody's business:

After the Curtin Idol competition, the Harmony Day carnival began! With the various international clubs selling food and other wares, there were performances and games at a separate arena in the courtyard for our entertainment.

Of course, there were the formalities that had to be done and it involved the VIPs and guests signing the event banner we had made.
VIP Jeanette Hackett signs the banner:

ISC Convernor Eric:

ISC Events Officer Samantha Ho:

My housemate and ISC Deputy Convenor Michelle Mok:

After that, we had James Webb from the Wadumbah Dance Group do a little didgeridoo demonstration. He was the same guy we invited to play at the Pasar Malam last year. He's good, but gets a little carried away and tends to tell really long, grandfather-type stories. Then again, he is a grandfather so we can't really blame him now, can we?

James also signed the banner:

After that, we basically ran amok with games such as the limbo:

And had dance lessons from this hot salsa duo:

And the Arab students got a sexy reminder of home from the belly-dancers. Their appreciation was well-expressed in their enthusiastic bouts of wolf-whistling:

Finally, the night ended with a spot of dancing and a parting shot:

Selected photos  International Students Committee
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Funky Fresh Dressed

2006-03-15T19:20:00.000+08:00

I'm on the lookout for Bad Dressers for my next issue of PARAGON and Curtin University is full of them!
Well it is really, but my stealth is constantly compromised by the lack of wild shrubbery and unkempt gardens in which I could snap my paparazzi pictures from.
I wish I could have snapped some really god-awful ones but don't worry, I will one day! My magazine is gonna have black-bar galore!

Check these winners out:

This one actually points to Miss Print-Crazy and not the girl with the black bar:

The 80's called, they want their tennis shoes back:

And the worst dresser so far; ISC president Eric in his sandwich costume:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Actually, Eric must be given loads of credit for having the balls to walk around uni in that get-up! It was Michelle's idea to have human billboards to promote our upcoming events, and of course, I had to be one of the volunteers to design the boards. Here, Eric has done me proud by modelling my designs! Good on ya!

Wanna Be Happy

2006-03-11T23:00:00.000+08:00

Charlie and Wai Ling (Michelle's friends) invited us to go along with them to the Crab Festival in Mandurah today and it turned out to be somewhat disappointing for all. Nonetheless, I think we made the most of it and managed to enjoy ourselves by gorging on food and drink, taking a nice, long stroll, and making fun of the bogans on the opposite river bank at the music fest.

Mandurah:

Some boat display they had on:

Wailing and Charlie (holding hands), and Michelle on the right in the red jumper and straw hat:

We had cold crab, fish, lobster, beer and gelato, and I'll wait for Michelle to provide those pics for the moment...

Our last stop; the chocolate shop:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Well can't really say much more right now, tired and bloody bored out of my wits...

One More Cup of Coffee

2006-03-08T15:29:00.000+08:00

Well, I'm back at university and it's pretty trying diving straight back into classes and all that shiznat with the International Students Committee without proper rest to get my head on straight. A few nights back, we had a little "Welcome Party" to get to know the people from the international clubs from Curtin. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera so who knows where the pictures are! (Actually they're probably with committee president Eric...)

Anyway, this morning we had another mingle session, this time early in the morning over pastries and coffee. I'm not the best person at public relations, and I'm not a morning person; enough said.

Me chatting with Helen Hesselberg from University Life:

Me trying to be very diplomatic with Rebecca Higgie from the Women's Department and Laura Stevens, the Education Vice-president from the Guild. They have a problem with me over an article I published in PARAGON but I couldn't care less really. Paging for Zero Sense of Humour, clean-up on Aisle 3:

Selected photos  International Students Committee
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

And that's that!

Old School Joint

2006-02-26T12:28:00.000+08:00

It was time to depart Singapore yet again to go back to classes.
It's a real drag that I can't spend that extra time with Grandma & Pa but what can I say, university still has to come first.

I said my goodbyes and got one final shot with the old folks:

I departed Singapore on a 1.15am Singapore Airlines flight and was pleasantly surprised to meet an old college mate on board, and as a flight attendant no less! I'm sure some of you might remember Jasmine. She was too busy to take a quick snapshot with me and I assume by the time she found the time, I was already fast asleep! Unfortunately for me, my nap lasted a mere 45 minutes before breakfast was served at the crack of dawn:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Jas and I were meant to catch up tonight but so far, she hasn't called. So I've made plans of my own and will possibly be meeting with Russell to catch up over coffee.
Let's see how it goes if she does decide to call.

Endless Love

2006-02-23T22:36:00.000+08:00

Grandma & Grandpa celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary tonight with family and close friends.
Grandma was embarrassed earlier in the day at church when they made them walk down the aisle to the Wedding March but I'm sure she secretly enjoyed it!
Also, for reasons unknown, my cousins (on my Dad's side) have disappeared from the face of the earth and have not contacted us recently. They have changed their phone numbers and failed to inform both my family and my grandparents.
Therefore, they could not attend this lovely, intimate evening and truly missed out on the opportunity to spend quality time with family.
Oh, the family dramas...

From left to right (starting at the bald head); Grandpa, 2 of Grandma's old friends, Grandma, Grandma's old army buddy, Dad, Mum, and Ana:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Bug-a-boo

2006-02-23T11:11:00.000+08:00

Found this literally being built on our clothes line.
Pretty icky but interesting as well:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

She's In Fashion

2006-02-22T23:38:00.000+08:00

Tonight was the Mercedes Benz Asia Fashion Awards Singapore 2006! Unfortunately, Grace didn't win top honours, but I'm still damned proud of her.

This was the display outfit the guests got to see as a preview to the collections on the runway. Somehow, the picture of the display outfit with accessories has evaded me:

And how neat was it that they simply plonked this SLK 200 right next to the garments?

Also, because I arrived early in the day, one of the staff took the chance to practice his selling technique by getting into the car with me and telling me everything he knew about it. Was pretty fun, and I wish I could've taken a spin in it too!

After about four hours of rehearsals, final fittings and adjustments, and gossip, we went home to doll ourselves up for the show. We returned at about 6pm and were greeted by the biggest bunch of fashion greenies I've ever seen at a fashion show. These weren't the usual fashion-savvy, knob-head bunch I was used to. Instead, these were mostly made up of friends and family of the designers and Mercedes Benz staff. Truly the most refreshing crowd I've encountered at a fashion event!

Jamie Ong hosting the show:

Grace standing proudly backstage with her entire collection:

After this photo, I scurried out to the front to watch her models walk down the runway. They did well and the audience seemed to be genuinely interested in Grace's unique sense of style.

Even though my dear girl didn't win, we agreed that the prize went to a well-deserved chap. Here she is one last time:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

We're all proud of you!

Got Some Teeth

2006-02-19T23:02:00.000+08:00

Grace and Delia introduced me to this Japanese hot-plate fast food place in Takashimaya the last time the three of us met up, and I was keen to let Ana have a try at it.
After mercilessly dragging Ana around the whole day with me shopping, I decided to bring her to the restaurant and introduce her to this simple treat.
You simply order from the menu of about 20 different dishes and soon, it arrives on your table sizzling and smoking with a strong aroma or melted butter.

This is the Pepper Beef Rice we both ordered:

Ana mixing it all up and letting the hot plate do its magic:

Happily grinning at the yummy meal:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

She seemed to like it and it'll probably be another one of the Japanese fast food places I'll eagerly return to!

Here Comes the Rain Again

2006-02-18T10:18:00.000+08:00

Heavy rains today...
Looks like Grandma and Grandpa will be arriving in the afternoon to this type of weather!

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

That's Alright, Mama

2006-02-13T21:21:00.000+08:00

I helped Grace out today with her preparations for the upcoming Mercedes Benz Asia Fashion Award competition. It was time for the fitting and this was our chance to see how the outfits would look like on the models, together with the necklaces we had been working on last week.

Grace and I waiting for our turn with the models:

Grace doing some adjustments to her outfits:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

So far, it's looking pretty good, so *cross our fingers* we hope everything is perfect by next week!

Another Day in Paradise

2006-02-12T22:34:00.000+08:00

It was Mum & Dad's 26th wedding anniversary today and unsurprisingly, neither one of them planned anything for it. Of course, Ana and I took the liberty to book us all a nice dinner at the Brazil Chiarrascuria down at Sixth Avenue so that they could at least have a proper celebration!

Mum & Dad:

At this restaurant, you pay a standard dinner fee which gives you access to a salad bar and unlimited supplies of MEAT. Once you're happy with your fill of veges, the waiters simply come by to carve huge chunks of chargrilled meats onto your plate. Beautiful!

Mum watches as they slice hunks of lamb onto her plate:

Dad and the pure gluttony in his eyes:

They also make a mean caipirinha with Brazilian rum;

Fabulous coconut creme brulee;

And really smooth mango pudding:

Selected photos  Christiana Westlake
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Split Screen Sadness

2006-02-06T21:22:00.000+08:00

Met up with Grace and Delia yesterday for lunch.

Always good to see the two girls:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

I spent the rest of the day shopping with Grace once Delia went off to see her baker about her wedding cake.
Grace went on a spree and after that, we headed back to her place to decide on accessories styling for her entries into the Mercedes Benz Asia Fashion Awards competition.
I wish her all the best of luck and can't wait to see the show on the 22nd before I leave.
Watch this space.

Disco Club

2006-02-04T20:56:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was Marc's birthday.
Mission: to get him drunk.

Caroline, my best friend and Marc's fiance, planned a surprise party for Marc in a huge chalet in Changi Village, a quiet rural area known for its tranvestite and transsexual prostitutes...

Caroline, waiting for Marc to arrive:

The dimmed lights and catered food:

Marc arrives to find about 30 of his friends and family waiting to congratulate him:

Even though it was Marc's day, Caroline needed her friends Joy and Sujin around as well:

One of his uncles digging for beer:

His birthday cake, courtesy of his brother. It was huge!

Marc and family; left to right, Dad, Andrew, Marc, Caroline & Mum:

Marc finally blows out the candles!

Finally, a photo of the night's photographer with the birthday boy!

His brother Andrew and me:

Of course, once the formalities were over, everyone knew it was time to party!
While we can't expect the older partygoers to hit the dancefloor or the drinking game tables,
they certainly knew how to entertain themselves:

Of course, us younger folk knew it was time to play our drinking games...

And ultimately, get Marc drunk (and check out his very red friend):

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

By this time, the beer had gotten to me and I let it all out in the bins.
I hit the sack a while after, and woke up this morning to find Marc with a massive hangover!
Mission accomplished!

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY, MARC!

Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head

2006-01-29T21:36:00.000+08:00

GONG XI FA CAI! HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

And what would Chinese New Year be without a spot of gambling?

Playing Texas Hold'em poker:

My Uncle Dennis wins the round:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Contrary to popular opinion, it's fun playing with fake money!

At the River

2006-01-29T12:04:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, my two dear friends from Curtin, Alissa and Lidia, were in Singapore on a one-day stopover to Beijing. These two scholarship winners are on their way to learn Mandarin from the experts over in China in 5-degree weather. They must want it really bad!

As their guide for the day, I first brought them to eat some Indian food in Little India:

After lunch and a bit of walking through Little India, we took a cab to the Esplanade and walked by the Singapore River and along Boat Quay and Clarke Quay. After that, we headed back to their hotel for a swim and cocktails.

The Furama City Centre hotel. Unique architecture, huh?

The bathing beauties:

Enjoying their Singapore Slings:

As it got dark, we went out again, this time walking from the hotel to Clarke Quay in search of a place to have dinner.

The fiery sunset from the hotel room:

The new installations in Clarke Quay:

Boat Quay, where we had dinner:

The view from the restaurant:

Alissa with her big, wide grin at the seafood restaurant we chose:

After our great dinner, we walked to the Esplanade Park to check out the festivities at the River Hong Bao.

The gate at the River Hong Bao:

A float in the river:

The decorated pathway along the park:

The Prosperity God:

My forecast for the year ahead:

Some peach lanterns in the trees:

A lion dance troupe, sponsored by IndoChine, packing their equipment away:

We heard that there were going to be fireworks later in the night so we went back to the hotel to get a better view of Chinatown.

Lidia getting ready with her paparazzi cam:

The fireworks in Chinatown, totally skewed by the apartment blocks in front of us:

Some sparklers they set off after:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

I hope they're doing great in China!

Pleasure Little Treasure

2006-01-27T17:23:00.000+08:00

Yes, ladies and gentleman, your geek friend is the proud owner of the new Motorola RAZR V3i:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

And I even managed to trade-in my old Nokia 6260 even after I dunked it in the ocean.
Sneaky!

I Thank You

2006-01-26T23:29:00.000+08:00

HAPPY 54TH BIRTHDAY, MUM!

It's my Mum's birthday today and also the night we had our reunion dinner. A big affair this time, it included all of my Mum's (surviving) siblings and their almost-complete families. Absent were my grandfather (who is sadly still in hospital), my Aunt Mary, my cousins Cassandra and Javier, and my cousin's husband Kien Hwee:

Table 1, from left to right; Mum, Alex (replaced by a frowning Marcel), Jeanette, Aunt Jeannie, Aunt Ah Hwa, Joanne, Uncle Raymond, Criszean:

Table 2, from left to right; Cheyenne (in pink), Ana, Aunt Hwee Li, Uncle Dennis, Ian, Dad, Marcel, Mikael, Denise:

Some of the food; prawn and cashews in a yam ring:

Sheng Mian:

Sambal Kangkung:

My Canadian nephew Mikael and his monkey faces:

Mikael with his uncle, my cousin Alex:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

It's always nice to have the family around for dinner, even if the whole reunion thing isn't really a big deal for all of us because we see one another so often!

Keep On Truckin’

2006-01-23T14:11:00.000+08:00

Tim left this morning after an 8-hour delay on his flight. Instead of a 7.50pm departure, his flight finally took off at 4.30am.

The departures board in Changi Airport:

His flight delay:

Tim with Mum & Ana:

Armed airport security put in place after Singapore received terrorist threats:

Tim enjoying a vanilla cappucino with his nose while we pass the time in the airport:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

It doesn't feel good not knowing when I'll see him again. During my time in Perth, I felt like I had lost a best friend under some undesirable circumstances. And then I met Tim and we hit it off, becoming fast friends. He was there for me when I needed a friend to talk to and I cannot ask for more from a pal.
Right now, I have plans to visit the States but who knows when. At least I'll get to pop over to Canada and see my cousin Joanne and her family as well when I do. I hope it will be within a year.

I'M GONNA MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY!

We're Coming Home Again

2006-01-20T20:16:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, as mentioned, we went to Phi Phi Islands, or Koh Phi Phi as the locals know it. You take a 1½-hour cruiser ride to the island for 250baht or S$10 return.

Aboard the Phi Phi Cruiser:

Tim sleeping (as usual) while we travel towards Phi Phi Don, the main island in the group:

Some island we pass along the way:

We make a stop just before we reach Phi Phi Don to let off passengers who signed up for the boat tour onto a smaller boat:

The two of us looking shit while grabbing a photo op:

As we approach Phi Phi Don, we spot this deserted stretch of beach with a lot of snorkellers and dive boats around the area. We decide that that’s where we wanna be:

Phi Phi Don:

Parasailing on the side of Phi Phi Don where they filmed that silly Leonardo DiCaprio movie, The Beach:

As soon as we looked around and discovered that the beach on Phi Phi Don was covered with more White tourists baking in the sun, we hired a motor-driven sampan to take us to the small stretch of beach we spotted earlier:

The beautifully secluded portion of beach we landed on:

Funnily, when we told the boatman to take us to the beach, he said to us “Go see monkey!” and we declined, thinking that he was offering to take us somewhere else. In fact, he was informing us that this was the part of the island that tourists came to watch and feed wild monkeys! One pawed at my bag when we just entered the waters to go snorkelling, probably hoping to find something yummy. Thank god they didn’t run away with any of our stuff!

I told Tim not to feed the monkeys but did he listen? Of course not!

I found a swing and tested it out… Not very glamourous is it?

The beautiful waters:

After two hours of snorkelling and basking in the sun, the boatman came back and took us back to Phi Phi Don where we had lunch at a tiny eatery.

Looks like they had a memorial service for the lives lost in the Tsunami on 26th December 2004:

A plea to the Prime Minister from the residents of Koh Phi Phi, demanding to know why their islands have not been restored as promised after the Tsunami:

The new Tsunami Evacuation Route signs you can now find all over Phuket and the other affected islands:

We stepped back onto Phuket at around 4pm and decided to spend our last night in Patpong. We headed out there by tuk tuk as we had already returned the bike and went for oil massages at a decent massage parlour with friendly masseuses. They massage you naked with scented oil in these dimly lit rooms with soft music playing so much so that it was almost a turn on! I almost dreamt of that sexy guy we met at the YHA Hostel! After that, I wanted to have a nice dinner of Thai food at a proper restaurant and had to plead with Tim to go with it. He finally agreed but I wished he had enjoyed the food as much as I did. Hope the ice-cream sort of made up for it!

Tim with his Corona, and my Pina Colada:

We went back after one last look at all the shops and packed. We settled in pretty early that night for our early flight this morning.

This time, we flew with JetStarAsia and it was just like Valuair (well obviously since they’re now owned by the same people). And like my Valuair flight to Perth, the plane was half empty:

Singapore!

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

My return home is bitter-sweet because while I’m happy to be back, I still wish that I were swimming in the waters of the Andaman Sea and watching the beautiful sunsets.

I Just Want To Celebrate

2006-01-19T18:04:00.000+08:00

As previously posted, we arrived in Phuket on the 14th and now, I honestly wish we could stay here just a few days longer. I feel bad for getting my PADI certification and leaving us with just one day to go off to the neighbouring islands. Whatever the case, I hope that I will get a chance to return to Phuket again, maybe this time with my family or a couple of friends!

Landing into Phuket:

In our transfer to the hotel from the airport. Right that instant, I’m sure I was wondering how soon I could get into my bathers and into the beautiful waters:

Tim always wanted a shot of people being carted around like pigs on the backs of pickups and lorries. It’s strange to me because it is so common here in Asia that I don’t even think twice about it. In fact, I’ve sat in the back of pickups many a time before:

We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon and were pleased to find that it had a nice view, a nice firm bed and was spacious enough for the two of us to fight without destroying the furniture.

The front of the hotel:

The view from the balcony, overlooking the tiny pool. You can see in the top right-hand corner that the beach was right across the road:

Our toilet/ shower combo. As usual, Tim left the toilet seat up:

The bedroom:

The side chillout area by the large window. We got amazing views of the sunset from here:

In the nearby cafe along the beach:

Further up the beach from our hotel:

A typical sunset during a cloudy day in Phuket:

That first night, we didn’t venture very far, just nearby the area our hotel was at and we discovered where the Internet café, the ATM and the nearest massage parlour were!

The 2nd day, we spent a day at the beach where we found ourselves amongst ridiculous numbers of fat, White tourists baking in the sun, with many of the women going topless as well. There were some real Narcissists out there oiling themselves up and strutting around in their g-strings. And those are just the men I’m talking about. Later that day, as day turned to night, I booked myself in for a 3-day PADI Open Water Diver course that would start the very next day. Worried that Tim would be bored shitless while I was doing my course, I agreed to rent a small bike with him to scoot around on and explore Phuket.

Trying to look tough on that jalopy:

Of course, we took the bike out for a ride and stumbled onto the tourist area, what they call Beach Road along Patong. It was touristy as hell and I was glad that our hotel wasn’t situated along that stretch.

Tim being an idiot along Bangla Road:

The shops, bars and restaurants along the roads. It is said that when the Tsunami wave hit the island, it came up to halfway up this road and then washed out:

Racers available for rent, aside from the small bikes (like the one we rented) and the big, noisy Harley Davidsons:

On the 3rd day, I had my classroom tutorials and confined dives in the pool for training. Obviously, I couldn’t take any pictures but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The 4th day and I’m on to do my first two open water dives! Yay for me! I leave the hotel at 7:30am and I’m brought to the pier from which we will travel to Racha Yai island for our dives.

The Tourist Pier:

My French instructor Yann on the left with his morning coffee. He has the funniest accent:

Me with the scuba tanks and a jasmine and orchid garland around my neck:

Our equipment:

On board our dive boat the Similan Queen, part of the Scandinavian Divers' fleet. We're docked at Racha Yai:

A pirate boat!

I successfully did both dives and passed a few of the tests required to receive my certification that day. I returned to the hotel with a big grin on my face and more than happy with my choice to do my dive course in Phuket.

Our 5th day and I’m on the last day of my course. I’ve got two more dives to go and again, we head to Racha Yai, but this time at a different spot from the day before.

The West Coast Discovery, a boat owned by my diving school, West Coast Divers:

On our way to Racha Yai:

Two Europeans, Seagren and Howard from the UK, joining Yann and me on our dive for their refresher course. They hadn’t dived for 4 years and looked like they really enjoyed diving in the tropics:

An Israeli gentleman I met who was in Phuket for his birthday with his wife. He was telling me how much he wished she was there diving with him. He had some amazing stories of his life as a refugee during the war and showed me how, due to lack of documentation, his passport states his birth date as 00/00/1935:

The novel from which he tried to teach me a little Hebrew:

This guy here gave me a full congratulations after he found out I had just passed my dive course. Subsequently, everytime I walked pass him on the boat, he’d burst out in a shower of congrats:

Kenny Greg, a cave-diver from Louisiana who had some pretty funny stories to tell as well. After a long chat, we agreed to meet up for dinner in Patpong that night:

Our boat manager Ian, from England:

Yann giving the thumbs-up as he signs and officiates my PADI certification:

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That night, as promised, Tim and I meet up with Kenny and we have pizza at the Pizza Company along Bangla Road. We had a great time listening to his tales and parted our ways with well wishes.
Tim and I then went off to get our tickets for today's trip to the Phi Phi Islands, as well as a mask and snorkel for me.
More in the next post!

Welcome To the Club

2006-01-17T21:28:00.000+08:00

HAPPY 55TH BIRTHDAY, DAD!

Smiling Faces Sometimes

2006-01-14T15:46:00.000+08:00

Bangkok is a fabulous city in a heart of a beautiful country. What I love about it is the fact that even though they have some of the biggest names and companies setting up offices in their city, the people are still so down-to-earth and simple, preferring to sell their wares from carts and tiny roadside stalls. And better yet, the locals still prefer to buy from these vendors instead of the richer, fancier merchants found in the shopping malls.

Okay, so enough from me. We arrived on the 10th, flying in from KL on AirAsia. It’s the first time I’ve flown with them and it’s one of the weirdest experiences I’ve had so far. I’ve flown budget airlines before, specifically Valuair to Perth, but this one is seriously (although expectedly) shabby. On Valuair, I was assigned a seat and you received service with a big, wide smile. On AirAsia, you have to rush to get seats (especially if you wanna sit together with your friend) and when the stewardess was doing the demo for the life jacket, she never smiled once. I didn’t think things like this bothered me, but looks like they do. It can’t hurt to grin a little, can it?

Tim and me at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, about to board our flight:

Tim falling asleep (again) while waiting for our flight to leave as it was delayed for an hour. That’s our plane in the background:

Unfortunately for the poor guy, Tim wasn’t feeling too well because he stayed up late last night to watch the last three episodes of Smallville while I went to take a 2-hour nap. His body couldn’t handle it and after we landed in Bangkok, he spewed quite a bit. Thank god for barf bags. And I surprisingly managed to keep my composure even though (as my family knows) I usually puke when someone around me does as well. But I won’t deny that I gagged a few times…

The poor lad waiting for our airport transfer and looking sad and pale after puking:

Our YHA Hostel:

Our room. I got the top bunk so that Tim could do gross things like smell his socks on the bottom bunk:

The nearby Chong Nonsi Bangkok Train System station:

And of course, what would a cheap hostel room be without the red-light district just down the road?

Patpong and the famous Beer Chang sign:

The Patpong night markets where all the strip joints and bj massage parlours are:

Tim drinking some 15baht or S$0.60 Thai Pepsi:

Day 2 and we venture out to walk down from the hostel to grab some lunch and explore the area. We are in one of the business areas with all the big banks and offices around us, so we end up in a food court eating a full lunch spread costing us a mere 100baht or S$4.00.

At least I managed to convince Tim to not eat McDonald’s for once:

I dragged the ever-indecisive Tim to the BTS station to travel to Siam. The Ocean World sign on Siam Paragon sparked our curiousity and we went in looking for it.

Just as we entered the shopping mall, we were greeted by this brand spanking new orange Lamborghini; a definite work of art:

We found Ocean World in the basement of the mall and soon realised that it was an aquarium. I had to see it since we were already there and of course, pulled Tim along as well.

Tim looking at rock lobster:

Tim trying to eat a jellyfish. The funny thing was this tank had two sides for viewing and when I took this picture, I had no idea that Tim was looking in from the other side. He knew, obviously, and took glee in partaking in my documentation of that cute little fella:

After Ocean World, we walked around a bit in the other shopping centres, and left for the night markets to have dinner.

Some movie posters we saw in the train stations on our way back; Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire:

Noel, starring Paul Walker, Penelope Cruz, Robin Williams and Susan Sarandon:

Soon after, it got dark and we called it an early night for the next day’s tour.

It was our 3rd day and we had booked ourselves on a tour of the Khlong Damnoen Saduak Floating Markets. There are one of the few floating markets still in operation and it was our chance to see it before it is forever lost to the modern world:

We had to take one of these sampans to the main “shopping area” of the markets:

Our ride:

As lunch wasn’t included in the deal, we had to find our own food and opted to eat pork fried rice cooked by this nice old lady on the river:

After the markets, we were given the choice to either ride through the jungle for half an hour on elephants or go watch the cobra show. Both adventures interested us, but the fact that we had to pay 500baht extra to ride the elephants quickly led us to the cobra show.

The very weird and rehearsed presenter and one of the snake dudes with a cobra:

A mongoose fighting a cobra:

The two penises of a cobra:

One of the crazy snake guys testing the patience of three mangrove snakes:

After catching two of them with his hands, he catches the last with his teeth:

Mad!

We were quickly ushered out after the show by our tour guide and were brought to the obligatory session at the wood-carving centre.

A ridiculously amazing hand-carved wood panel:

That night, we went to meet a couple of my Dad’s friends to have dinner and again, went home early to rest.

The Chit Lom train station we met them at and the typical traffic situation during dinner time in Bangkok:

Our 4th day and we were eager to try out another tour, this time dedicating the whole day to it. We headed for the Kanchanaburi province this time to see the bridge over the River Kwai and the Death Railway, "relics" left over from World War II.

The rebuilt bridge over the River Kwai. Obviously, the original wooden bridge was destroyed during WWII:

The view from the bridge:

Next to the bridge is the War Musuem with basically lots of history and trivia about how the Japanese tortured the South-East Asians and the Allied POWs. I wondered how the Japanese tourists felt when they read about what their countrymen did 60 years ago.

A glass tomb:

An erotic painting. Weird, I know, especially for a war museum full of death and suffering:

Guns and ammunition from the War:

After walking on the bridge, we were supposed to make our way to the train station for our journey on the Death Railway. But we made a pit stop at a secluded area known to have monkeys running around, waiting for who else but tourists to come and feed them.

One of the monkeys catching a large chunk of corn in his mouth:

A monkey takes a peanut from me:

We were then transported to the train station to board the train onto the Death Railway.

A brief explanation of the significance of the railway station:

Our train:

The Death Railway:

So after the ride on the train, the tour bus took us to the War Cemetary. We spent about 20 minutes there, absorbing the gravity and dire results of the war.

One of the few tombstones with evidence of family actually coming to pay their respects. He was 34:

Tim reading about the brave men who fought for the country:

A plaque seen on the citadel in the cemetery:

It was more than enlightening to actually see the places that I used to read about during history class in secondary school. I also felt very blessed that there were these people that fought and worked so hard for our tiny Asian countries even though they did not have to.

We got back from the tour at about 7pm and that night, we took they time to watch the infamous “Tiger Shows” a.k.a. “Pussy Shows” in Patpong before we left.

The Pen & House, the joint we watched the shows in:

Generally, all these Pussy Shows are the same; they have the same couple of stunts performed at every strip joint along the Patpong stretch. The first stunt we saw had one of the girls blowing out candles on a birthday cake through a tube stuck into her vagina. Shocking!
Next came another girl who gaily stuck not one, but two cigarettes into her vagina and happily asked one of the male patrons to light them up for her. Next thing you know, she’s smoking those things with her you-know. That can’t be good for her.
I can’t quite remember what came next but another girl came along and cracked open a soda pop without the help of a bottle opener. Yes people, she used her vagina. That’s one hell of a party trick, I can tell ya that!
Following that, one of the bigger, fleshier girls easily slipped a whole egg into her pussy and proceeded to walk around with it. She slipped it out and stuck it in again a few times just to show us that it was still intact. Then, all of a sudden, she started to slam her body onto the stage with a lot of force. Next thing you know, she positions herself over a cup and pops the egg out, still intact, into the cup and cracks it open to show that it wasn’t hard boiled or anything. I was stupefied by that point.
Then came the antics, like one girl asking another male patron to pull a streamer from her vagina. That thing was neverending! It just kept going and going! Another one came along with those glow-in-the-dark balls that light up and she would chuck them in and try to pop them into a cup positioned below her. 3rd antic: the girl who smoked the cigarettes came along with one of those horns we toot at kid’s birthday parties, and literally stuck it in and tooted that horn with gusto. Made me chuckle quite a bit!
I think the last act was that same cigarette-smoker sticking a blowpipe into her vagina, handing Tim a balloon and then proceeding to pop the balloon by shooting darts at it. After she successfully did it on the second try, Tim picked up one of the darts and was more than convinced that she could have killed him or blinded him. That made me chuckle even more!
Tim obviously enjoyed the show (and by that I mean his jaw was on the floor most of the time), and I think he sort of felt bad for the girls because he was too broke to tip them! Poor guy!

This morning, we took another horrible but thankfully short flight to Phuket on AirAsia. The Thai stewardesses are slightly more pleasant than the Malaysian ones, so that was good.

Tim at Bangkok International Airport reading Cosmo & Vogue:

Flying over Bangkok:

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Hello Phuket!

Can't Help Lovin' That Man

2006-01-09T23:18:00.000+08:00

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY, TIM!

We've been in Kuala Lumpur 4 days now and we'll be leaving tomorrow for Bangkok via AirAsia. That should be an experience. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here; let's backtrack a little and allow me to show you what we've seen and done during our short time here.

First, it has to be said that my Dad HOOKED US UP! I mean, it's fun to stay at backpacker hostels, cheap hotels and whatnot. But getting a free stay at a 4-star serviced apartment in the heart of KL, now that's awesome. In fact, the Somerset Seri Bukit Ceylon hasn't even been officially opened but we got a taste of what it was going to be like when it does.

The view from the balcony:

The living room and dining area. I think Tim is watching the Discovery Channel:

Our chap all relaxed and comfy. Note the pizza boxes stacked on the table. Because of him, I only get the armchair:

The kitchenette. I believe the washing machine will be replaced with an oven as soon as laundry services are in full working order at the residence:

It's a 2-bedroom apartment and we are bunking in with the resident manager (who happens to be away during this entire time) so we got to use the smaller bedroom. Our plush, cosy bed:

The mess we created in our bedroom:

The main bathroom, i.e. the one that we used:

Our throne:

The glass shower:

The manager's master bedroom:

And his sweet-arse bathroom complete with bathtub:

So we took a nap after that strange but hilarious coach ride in from Singapore, we woke up sometime in the evening and I gave Michelle's friend Tim a call. Yup, another Tim. He had very nicely agreed to bring us around (after a bit of prodding from Michelle) and that night, he took us out for dinner at a Chinese eatery and then for drinks at the Asian Heritage stretch where some nifty bars and restaurants are.

A view of the Petronas Towers from the Asian Heritage strip:

The other Tim:

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of that night as I was more interested in absorbing the side of KL I had never seen before!

Now on to our second day! We had a slack day of shopping when Tim C. (Michelle's friend) brought us to Sungei Wang to show us his shop, and as soon as he dropped me off at Vincci, I was done! I found a cute pair of flats and was more than disappointed that I couldn't find more! Anyway, while I was doing this, Tim G. (ol' blue eyes) went to look around the place for a bit. After my spree, we went to the internet cafe to book our beds at the YHA Hostel for Bangkok and then proceeded to the nearby IT hub, Low Yat Plaza. Tim G. finally got the 300GB external hard drive he was so hard-up on buying. Yay for him!

After shopping, posing with the Menara KL:

We didn't do much that night, and went home to chill out instead. Tim G. wasn't feeling up for much so we called it an early night.

Our 3rd day and we're at the world's once-tallest building, the Petronas Towers and KLCC:

KLCC Park:

After that, since it was the weekend, I dragged Tim to the markets at Bangsar. I love that place because it is so bad, it's actually quite good:

You tend to see a questionable mish-mash of wares being put on sale such as bootleg Rolexes next to a guy selling ladies underwear. Then, perpendicular to that, you will find green grocers and fishmongers selling their foods just metres away from the family deep frying chicken and grilling otak-otak:

After walking through the markets, as promised, we meet my best friend Sheeda who now lives in KL (seen here cutting some dragon fruit for Tim to try):

Her fiance, Mark:

And his two boys, Connor and Jackson:

Tim trying out some pungent jackfruit:

We soon set off for dinner at a cute little Korean eatery where you have to take your shoes off and sit with your feet dangling in a recess under the table. Cool stuff.

Connor & Jackson devouring the food:

Tim proudly showing off his ever-improving chopstick-handling technique:

We moved off to buy bootleg DVDs after dinner for the two boys who were flying home to Perth the next day. Those crazy kids make me smile.

Our last day in Kuala Lumpur and it's Tim's birthday! I don't know what to do for this guy as he keeps saying "oh, anything is fine.." when I ask him what he wants to do. Of course, I had already planned to take him to the Hard Rock Cafe to embarass him but that would come much later.

I took him to Berjaya Times Square to check out the indoor amusement park and we went to watch King Kong in the IMAX theatre:

After walking around Times Square for a bit and buying myself the House Season 1 box set, it was time to have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. And time to celebrate Tim's birthday!

The Hard Rock Cafe Kuala Lumpur:

Tim with his burger. Oh, how he loves his American food:

After our meal of nachos and our individual mains, it was time for dessert! Of course, in Hard Rock tradition, they brought out the Birthday Brownie and got Tim to stand on his chair and announce to the whole restaurant that it was his birthday. I loved it! He was so embarrassed and of course, I delighted in it! Muahahahaha...

Free video hosting, video codes at www.vidiLife.com

Here he is with his brownie:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

We're off to Bangkok!

Feel Like Home

2006-01-06T02:26:00.000+08:00

My darling friend Tim arrived on New Year's Day from Perth, beginning our 3-week-long adventure together. We have been planning this trip since October (if I'm correct,) about 2-3 months after we first got to know each other in University during a Pub Crawl.

It's been a fun 5 days since he arrived and I just hope I've been a good guide and have shown him what he really wanted to see; I let him get a taste of as much as we could cram into this short time. Here's a short log of what has happened during his time here in Singapore.

Tim arrives at Changi International Airport. Yup, that's him in the cowboy hat:

That night, after checking him into his room in The New 7-Storey Hotel, I brought him to Chinatown to have dinner and meet my family:

I'm happy and proud that he's willing to try everything AND to learn to use the chopsticks even though the waitstaff kept offering him a fork:

The dim sum spread my Mum and sister ordered for all of us. Notice my Dad's "Hard Cock Cafe" t-shirt:

Here's Tim proudly enjoying a rare opportunity even in Singapore; catching Chinese street performers doing their thing:

The famous Sri Mariamman Hindu temple. Bet you don't see those everyday in America:

I know for a fact that Tim liked Chinatown very much and he greatly regretted not bringing his video camera along that night. Oh well, at least he got to experience it first-hand.

The next day, I decided to show him the touristy stuff such as the Singapore River, the city skyline, the Merlion (our national symbol) and basically the whole Esplanade area where all the monuments, statues, etc. are.

Here he is (frowning and looking adorable) with the city skyline:

This is the Merlion with one of the Chinese boats on the river for the tourists to ride:

The Singapore Duck Tour a.k.a. the amphibious vehicle which drives from the city right into the Singapore River!

As we took a walk, we ended up at the Asian Civilisations Museum. There are 4 things I love visiting when I'm anywhere in the world, and they are (in order of preference): Art Galleries/ Museums, History Museums, Zoos and Aquariums. This time, I finally got to visit the ACM with a willing friend:

Tim learns to use the abacus, the Chinese wooden calculator:

Tim & I testing our knowledge of Arab culture:

Some parts of the museum project video onto the floor. I love that idea:

Another projection, this time simply to lead you in the right direction. Beautiful:

An erotic Indian fertility statue. The sculptor sure was graphic:

Leaving the museum, we walked toward the famous pub stretch, Boat Quay before we trotted back to get changed for that night's dinner with my girls.

Boat Quay and the constant camera in my face:

Here's the group at The Blue Ginger along Tanjong Pagar Road. It serves superb Peranakan/ Nonya food and I'm glad everyone liked it. From left to right; Grace, Delia, Sheeda, Pamela, Me,Tim, Sam, Iris, Ana:

Tim all smiley with his first Tiger Beer:

One of the more decent photos of us:

And as usual, we don't keep a straight face on for long:

After dinner, we headed off to Balaclava at Suntec City Mall for drinks. Two bottle of celebratory champagne, to be precise:

The place had a pretty talented duo singing on stage and of course, girls being girls, we sang along to songs such as ABBA's Dancing Queen. That song is still stuck in Tim's and my head till today! Grrr...

Tim being deliciously rude:

And yet another photo of us. Mind you, I bought him that shirt and I think he looks good in it. And no, I don't know what I was looking at:

Priceless shot of Tim and my sis. One of my favourites!

The newlyweds Delia & Sam. I love his t-shirt:

Just another one of our breast orgies:

My sister and I looking very normal in a photograph for a change:

The girls responsible for this little get-together; from left to right; Ana, Pamela, Delia, Sheeda, Grace & Myself:

So it's the 3rd day, and as promised (and much to my delight), I bring Tim to the zoo.
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had followed my childhood dreams and trained to become a zookeeper instead of studying fashion & design...

Anyway, here's Tim eating brunch - a bowl of Chinese handmade noodles in broth, and taking time to show off his newly-acquired chopstick-handling skills:

The Singapore Zoo:

The sweet "Friends of the Zoo" card from my Dad's company which got us in for free:

The giant-arse leaf hopper commonly found in our rainforests. You wouldn't want that falling down your pants:

Tim and his new best friend:

The native mousedeer:

A golden pheasant:

The false gharial, a species of crocodile:

A friendly guy we found basking in the sun:

Tim insisted Singapore was too hot for this dude. If so, why is he happily snoozing in the sun while the cool water laps at his paws? There is such a thing, my friend, as temperature control:

I know Mohan the White Tiger isn't the only thing with blue eyes and a pink nose:

He's a beauty, isn't he?

We think this Prairie Dog needs someone to pimp his ride:

Reminds me of my Dad:

A very inquisitive chipmunk:

And this amazing shot that I can't believe I managed to capture:

Meet one of the playful but shy baboons that lurk overhead when u first enter or exit the zoo:

After we finished our trek through the zoo, we took a breather before walking over to the Night Safari next door.

Then, we had a choice: pay $18 each to enter a place we've both never been in before, or sit at the nearby cafe and deliberate. We chose to deliberate and pout about the entrance fee when Lady Luck paid us a visit. These two Aussies from Adelaide came to us and asked if we would like the two extra tickets they had with them. It seems they had won a contest and were about to redeem 4 adult tickets. Bless their hearts for noticing our sad, moping faces!

Ripper!

The two (runaway) Aussies:

We entered the Night Safari and did a short trek before heading to one of the animal shows. Unfortunately, because we weren't allowed to use the flash on our cameras, our attempts to document the animals were futile. Nonetheless, the show was very entertaining and we saw some pretty amazing creatures. After that, we took the train journey throughout the safari and it was one of the most unique experiences I've had in a while.

Here, the finale of the show; ferrets recycling:

Day 4. Phew, times passes quickly when you're blogging.
Tim gets a haircut.
A $10, ten-minute haircut, that is:

And we slacked off for most of the day because it was gonna be a long night. We meet my best friend Caroline and her fiance Marc in Geylang, the red-light district of Singapore. Marc lives in the area and therefore he knows it well (or at least that the reason he gives us), and gladly offered to be tour guide for the night. We started off pretty tame (for that dodgy area) with Szechuan Frog Porridge:

After that sumptuous meal (and I know Tim agrees because he ate so much!) Marc proceeded to walk us through the alleys where all the prostitutes umm, hawk their wares... Some of the girls tugged at Marc and Tim and offered themselves up, but the boys were determined to sit this one out. I thought some of the girls needed to be at home doing their homework and it was way past their bedtime. Soon enough, Tim was introduced to his first real-life transvestite. Perfect.

Next, Marc drove us to the nearby durian stall. Durian is a large, thorny fruit famous in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore as the "King of Fruit". It supposedly smells terrible but tastes divine. I beg to differ. Here's one of the more popular roadside stalls in the area, right under a sex chat ad. Perfect x 2:

My hat goes off to Tim for tasting that thing:

I'm sure Tim was more than happy to learn that his culinary adventure was over for the day as we headed to Singapore's new Ministry of Sound club. It is supposedly the biggest Ministry of Sound in the world and boasts different arenas for the various types of music styles they play. MOS opened when I was in Perth and therefore, it was a first for me as well.

The Main Arena where they usually play dance music, except for certain days such as Thursday when they play R&B and Hip-hop:

Tim and I in Studio 54, the retro room:

Me getting a good squeeze of Tim's arse in Smoove, the caged R&B/ Hip-hop arena:

Caroline, Me and Tim after a night of dancing and sweating:

The last day in Singapore before we head off to Kuala Lumpur today. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't being very nice and had been raining since early in the morning. That's the problem with the tropics, either it's wet or dry. I had already planned to take Tim to Sentosa to have a look around and since he was game, we went anyway.

There's no better way to go to Sentosa than by cable car:

The main reason I brought Tim to Sentosa was so that we could go to the Underwater World, one of my favourite places. Again, I'm happy he appreciated this as much as I always do.

Live shark eggs. Yup, you can actually see the young wriggling about on the inside:

A view from the tunnel aquarium with the travellator that takes you through it:

A huge crab:

A pig-nosed turtle:

A shark hologram. Purely for the geeks:

And of course, fish!

We didn't stay in Sentosa long after visiting the aquarium as the clouds got meaner and our tiredness from the night before ate at us. Instead, we opted to chill out until dinner time, where we met my Mum and sister in Serangoon Road for a spot of Indian food.

The food was served on banana leaf, just the way it should be. They pile a shitload of rice onto the leaf and add a side of stewed marrow (a vegetable):

And a side of curried eggplant:

I don't know what Indian food does to me, but it certainly doesn't do this:

Mum & Sis enjoying Tim's antics:

That was delectable! Haven't had good Indian food in a long time!

We headed back to Tim's hotel to get him checked-out so that he could bunk in (albeit uncomfortably) with me, just so that our journey to catch the coach to KL today won't be so complicated.

The building his hotel is in is so old, it still retains one of those old skool manual lifts. How quaint!

All packed and ready to go:

Selected photos  Christiana Westlake
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

See you guys in Kuala Lumpur!

It Was a Very Good Year

2006-01-01T03:10:00.000+08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Say hello to 2006!

Photo hosted by: www.flickr.com

Also, Tim (my bitch from Michigan) will be arriving today. I'll be busy being his appointed tour guide for the next week, just before I go off to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Phuket, so I don't know if I'll be able to blog as often. Whatever the case, I'll be back soon enough!

To the girls: I'll see you at The Blue Ginger for dinner tomorrow!

Talk to you soon and keep emailing me!
Nothing makes me happier than to hear from the people that I think about daily.

This Is Your Night

2005-12-30T19:43:00.000+08:00

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY, RUSSELL!

Sure wish we could party to really celebrate it!

Bright Lights

2005-12-30T01:51:00.000+08:00

Tonight, we had dinner in Chinatown at the famous food stalls that line Smith Street.
I love to eat there, unfortunately, it really only comes alive at night.
Therefore, when I am working with on projects with the various production houses that have offices in Chinatown, it's a real disappointing place to have lunch.
Nonetheless, the 6 months I've been away has made the food taste even better so I'm just happy I ate there again tonight.
Looks like I'm starting to babble so here are the pictures of the street and the glimpses of Chinese New Year decor for you guys to enjoy.

Smith Street:

Some of the food stalls:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas

2005-12-28T23:30:00.000+08:00

Ok, so my timing is a little off. But it's really never too late to document Orchard Road's Christmas Light Up, now is it? Unless they've taken it all down to put up the Chinese New Year decor, of course.

That famous junction where all the Christmas/ New Year/ Some Other Significant Holiday Countdowns are held:

I snapped this long-exposure shot while standing in the middle of the pedestrian crossing between Wheelock Place and Shaw Centre. I would've turned out real good if that bus didn't choose to get involved. Damn bus:

The weird singing boxes on every corner of the junction:

They basically churn out high-pitched renditions of Christmas carols and then the boxes open up to reveal cheesy doves at the very top of the stack:

I cannot exclude the good ol' ice-cream dude that parks his cart at the corner of the junction from morning till night, selling chunks of ice-cream sandwiched between thin wafers or slices of colourful bread. I promise to document the ice-cream one day before my sister or mum chomps it down...

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

If Everyday Was Like Christmas

2005-12-25T03:42:00.000+08:00

It's a tradition in my family to prepare a Christmas dinner on the Eve and open our doors to family, friends and anyone who would like to join in on the celebrations. My Dad's Catholic and Mum's Buddhist, and I love how we celebrate occasions from both religions in my family. Christmas is particularly special for me because our parents have always reminded us about the importance of this day. And who could refuse the potential of being showered with gifts?

It so happens that every year in Singapore, it will rain on Christmas Eve. In fact, it pours:

And the dogs always feel and look neglected while we prepare the food for dinner:

Here's Mum making her renowned Apple Pie. Notice the placement of the Christmas tree due to lack of space what with the hoard of presents under it:

Ana's contribution to the Christmas decor - some items she bought while in Freo on the weekend:

This is lunch for us; Peppered Crabs:

My best friend of 14 years, Caroline, and the man that has (finally) asked for her hand in marriage, Marc:

Mum and a present from her god-children:

Derek trying to use his present to hide his face from my camera. My dear, no one can escape the long-exposure of my camera coupled with my steady hands! Muahahaha...

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Majulah Singapura

2005-12-22T23:13:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, I arrived past 5pm and we ended up having dinner at the airport. Everyone else went for Mediterranean but I went next door to order a steaming hot bowl of Nonya Laksa!
It's good to be back!

Ana:

Mum & Dad:

Earlier tonight, we had dinner at the kopi tiam nearby. Only in Singapore will you find a talking green parrot having dinner with its owners two tables away from you:

Here is the half-massacred feast we ordered including Indian Fish-head Curry, Sambal Kangkung, Stir-fried Beef with Spring Onion and Claypot Tofu:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

That was one of the best Asian dinners I've had in a long time. No offence to Michelle who cooks me superb Chinese food all the time, but nothing beats good old hawker food from home!

Goodbye To the Circus

2005-12-21T03:41:00.000+08:00

It's the night before I fly home to Singapore and I caught up with my uncle, my grandaunt and a few friends before I left. Daryl and Michelle were having a nice, fancy dinner together and caught up with me later on in Northbridge.

With a very persistent Michelle, we ended up at Hip-E Club (what a horrendous place!) and came home with about 5 hours left for me to sleep, but we still managed to take the time out to smile for the camera together one more time:

Photo hosted by: www.flickr.com

Thanks for everything!

New Way To Fly

2005-12-19T06:28:00.000+08:00

Ana and Shirley have just gone off to the airport and it's high time I slept as well. We stayed up all night last night till this morning, playing Monopoly (stolen from my office) to keep us awake:

Ana was the eventual winner and a true-blue Miss Moneybags:

Shirley is seen here trying to pay her $1750 rent:

Us looking delirious before we took a short nap:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Time to sleep!

Caught By The River

2005-12-18T22:24:00.000+08:00

Ana and Shirley went off on tour to the Swan Valley this morning and so Michelle and I decided to spend a little time together. Daryl was nice enough to lend us his car again because we wanted to catch the carollers at Mill Point Road.

Seeing that we were early, we decided to go down to the river and have a little picnic with the Hungry Jacks we bought earlier in the city:

This time, both Michelle and I wished we were in that boat:

Families having their own picnics in the park:

The duck pond:

A view of the city with the beautiful black swans Western Australia is known for:

Heron by the river:

We soon drove down to Mill Point Road to look for the carollers but to no avail. It was truly sad, but we still got to grab a few beautiful shots of the city yet again:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

After that, we ended up at the bar at Windsor Hotel because the band was playing some pretty good music. Too bad the crowd was full of old fogies and gay people. Nonetheless, we had a good time and that's all that really matters!

Weekend

2005-12-17T22:35:00.000+08:00

I decided to take Ana and Shirley out to a proper tour with a weekend at Fremantle and Subiaco starting out early in the morning. I made sure they saw the essentials like the weekend markets and Cicerello's by the harbour:

Check out the one stuffing her face in the background:

It seems we came on the day that the clipper in that around-the-world race had just arrived at Freo so we were in luck. We were happy to see the Singapore flag flying proudly next to the Aussie flag:

I wish I was on that little fishing boat:

There was alot going on at the harbour today, including this lady offering free face painting to kids:

Looks like she left a tiger running around eating chips:

And there was also this stiltwalker making balloon animals for the kids:

Check this sign out. Love it!

Seated next to us, we spotted this weird-looking dog in a Japanese lady's bag:

The Fremantle Markets:

Strangely, I didn't take any pictures from then on. Probably wasn't paying attention or something. But after Freo, we made our way to Subi by train and again, I brought them to the weekend markets and to the other little shops in the area. Although Michelle and I have walked through the markets many times, we never actually bumped into Russell although we know that he works there. It so happened that this trip, I caught sight of him and hogged him for a short chat. A good day indeed.

After Subi, the girls were tired and we raced back home to rest our tired feet. Ana was still gung-ho enough to make us dinner consisting of Cheese-topped Meat-stuffed Mushrooms:

Prawn, Chilli and Spinach Risoni:

And a Prawn & Avocado Salad:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Yummy!

Obsequey

2005-12-16T16:25:00.000+08:00

Just another day in summer and you get stupid flies entering your home whenever you open the fucking door:

Photo hosted by: www.flickr.com

Fabulous, just fucking fabulous.

Home & Dry

2005-12-14T21:04:00.000+08:00

It's a slack day. We all stayed home. Michelle mopped the floor, Shirley folded my laundry while I cleaned the kitchen and later Ana got her hair braided by Michelle:

Selected photos  Christiana Westlake
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Slack! Oh and HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY, DELIA!

Heartburn

2005-12-14T00:52:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, Ana's friend Shirley arrived from Singapore and they went off to see my grand-aunt and uncle in the morning. Michelle went out with Daryl. Therefore, I had the house to myself to prepare dinner for six; the five of us plus Russell whom the dinner was meant for in the first place.

I prepared a Honey Macadamia Nut Chicken Roast and a Mustard and Rosemary Crusted Lamb Leg to go with the Roasted Garlic Pasta and Butter Sauteed Asparagus I made. It was funny how because everyone had gone out before, they all arrived looking dressed up and I was still in my apron and Russell came half-greasy from working on his car. I felt bad for Russ and it felt weird but I wasn't about to complain if people bothered to look good for my dinner!

I was too tired to take pictures when we all finally sat down so Ana took the liberty to document my guests. Shirley:

Russell:

Michelle:

Daryl:

And the whole group:

Ana was sweet enough to prepare her ultra-sweet dessert and Michelle also took the time out to prepare some hors d'oeuvres:

In between dinner and dessert, Russ took Daryl for a spin in his now-famous multi-coloured Silvia. I've got a good video of them driving off demonstrating just how loud that car really is but I don't know where to put all that 85MB of video. Any ideas?

Ana's chocolatey dessert:

The group gambling after Russell left:

Selected photos  Christiana Westlake
Selected photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

I just hope everyone enjoyed the dinner and that they'll be asking for more!

Car Wash

2005-12-11T21:10:00.000+08:00

Like I mentioned before, my sister just brought me the camera I wanted from Singapore and I'm still learning and playing around with the functions because I don't have the manual here. A geek like me doesn't need a manual anyway; we somehow manage to figure things out pretty easily. So today, I am testing out the Super Macro mode, a.k.a. extreme close-ups of everything imaginable. Funnily enough, I discover a caterpillar on the lavender plant I bought from the flea markets and decided to test my camera's abilities:

And here's a dead fly that has been laid in the graveyard that is my plant's soil:

Neat (and gross) or what? I don't think my squeamish housemate will agree.

I ask Michelle to drive me to the nearby Dewson's to buy some groceries for the dinner I'm supposed to cook for Russell and supposedly everyone else. After that, since it was a little too early for dinner, we wandered around Applecross and ended up at the jetty along the river:

Of course, camera in hand, you will take a few cheesy shots and help your sister do the touristy thing for her photo albums:

It looks like she's trying to throw me in the river from this angle but really I was pointing to the city while she supported me:

Ah, the perfect mozzarella-topped tourist shots:

We soon headed off to dinner at the popular Ipoh Hor Fun place along Canning Highway in Applecross and decided to work-off our dinner by washing Eric's car before we return it to him tonight:

Selected photos  Christiana Westlake
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

The funniest part at the car wash was when we were vacuuming the car and decided to refresh his car with a new scent. We chose the "new car" scent and boy did it smell bad! It smelt like an Indian motherfucker had slept in his car all week. We tried to cover up the smell with a dose of "pina colada" car freshener but it ended up smelling like the Indian mofo had been drinking Malibu in the car. All in a day's work.

Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days Of Summer

2005-12-10T18:21:00.000+08:00

Last night, after Daryl got off work, he offered to take us to Llama Bar in Subiaco. Ana and I wouldn't normally go to these types of dance clubs, but there's no harm in doing so so we went along. Since I wasn't exactly expecting to do any hardcore dancing or getting sweaty, I decided to be cheesy and dressed in a shirt dress, carried my basket bag and wore my crochet heels. Totally inappropriate but hell, it made me smile:

So after a night out, Ana went back to her usual habits and woke up past noon. Since it is a Saturday, I dragged her arse to Freo for a quick lunch and so she could look around for a bit before her friend Shirley arrives in the next few days.

Ana waiting for the bus:

This is for Dad:

We're finally at Freo! Looks like they're done with that restoration work that was going on when Michelle and I first came here:

This is a statue that I've always noticed but never took the time to go over to read who it's supposed to be. Even worse, I thought it was a statue of a guy holding up a head with entrails dangling but it turns out to be a statue of a sculptor at work. Oops:

Ana deciding on lunch at La Porchetta:

Ana with a half-dozen oysters:

Some airplane formation we spotted on the way home:

Selected photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Bump and Grind

2005-12-09T21:37:00.000+08:00

Ana woke me up at 8 this morning and hurried me to go for breakfast and to get some Christmas shopping done. Fair enough. But it puzzled me that she could wake up earlier than me without someone screaming at her. Interesting...

We took the bus to the city and as we walked through Trinity Arcade, we chanced upon this breakfast nook and discovered to our delight that not only the the food look good, so did the staff. Once that cute barista flashed me his million-dollar smile, I felt myself being reeled in. Yup, I'm a sucker for cute men at 9 in the morning:

One of the cute baristas:

We later noticed the chef was also cute and one of the customers was a hottie too. Damn, this was gonna be a good day:

Ana finally got the superb breakfast she ordered. Looks like the hottie can cook really well too. Damn!

And I got my stack of blueberry pancakes. Yum:

After that power breakfast, we scurried around the city like chicks on speed and returned home totally deflated:

Selected photos  Christiana Westlake
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Come On Over

2005-12-08T23:34:00.000+08:00

We decided to go for lunch today, and since we had our friend Eric's car, we could all fit in and take a short drive down to the city to find our grub. As usual, when Michelle is driving, Daryl has to nag at her like the worst backseat driver ever, only that he usually sits in the front. I don't know why he does that. If it's his car, I understand. But dude, give it up already! She's an excellent driver!

Daryl wanted Korean but the place ran out of kimchi, so after that, there's no point really so we opted for pancakes at Carillon City:

Okay so that wasn't the best visual but hey, we all brought our cameras and went a little crazy with them:

This was Daryl's lunch. I can't remember what it was called and what it contained but he sure as hell looked like he enjoyed it:

Michelle's caesar salad with chicken:

Me about to dig into my Crepe Escape; gooey cheese and ham wrapped in a crepe and topped with a grilled pineapple and salsa. Scrumptious:

Daryl then decided to make us three girls a bit of dinner later, so off he went while we did our own thing. Here he is still in preparations when we arrived:

This is his visitor's doodle spot. Unfortunately, by the time Michelle and I got to know Daryl when we arrived, there wasn't much space left on that board so we pretty much just added bits and pieces here and there:

Michelle getting bored and hungry. She decided to occupy herself by pretending she was diving while staring at Daryl's goldfish:

Daryl's famous Fatty the Goldfish. It can't keep it's balance but it likes to intentionally spin upside-down alot of the time:

The spinach, chilli and prawn pasta Daryl made us. We were good dinner guests and brought a bottle of chardonnay along:

The civilised-looking group before we massacred that dinner:

Selected photos  Michelle Mok
Selected photos  Christiana Westlake
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Until the Real Thing Comes Along

2005-12-07T19:38:00.000+08:00

My sister arrived in Perth yesterday and we managed to surprise my uncle Shane and his Mum with her presence. Michelle cooked us a Chinese spread and we had a good time together. Unfortunately, my sister just brought my new camera over from Singapore, a Canon S2 IS, and because I was familiarising myself with it, the few pictures I took of last night's dinner turned out real shit; my apologies.

Anyway, today we employed the help of my dear friend Russell and my sister to help Michelle and I move our office at Curtin. Okay, so Michelle wasn't really helping us move the furniture, but we all know she tried:

And here she is (very happily) torturing one of our willing volunteers:

After moving the office, we decided to drive to Garden City for a spot of shopping. Here's a rare shot of Ana totally unaware of me capturing her:

And this is evidence of me being an idiot by operating an electronic device at the petrol station. I seriously forgot. Sure as hell got a scolding for that one:

Nothing much happened for the rest of the day, other than the three of us ooh-ing and aah-ing for the longest time over the cute puppies at the pet store:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Who's Sorry Now

2005-12-04T21:47:00.000+08:00

Today, Daryl woke Michelle and I up early and took us to the Canningvale flea markets. I think he felt bad after he found out that he was the catalyst for yesterday's argument. Well, at least he knows how to earn back those brownie points.

The markets are pretty interesting, and they sell everything a good flea market should - from plants, to clothes, to old records and videos, to crap that people wanna try and make a dollar off before they have to throw it out. There are also animals, like this salamander larva:

Ugly, cheesy women's blouses:

Ridiculously huge watermelons:

Of course, kids can also get their faces painted just so their parents can spend a little more:

Daryl spotted these amazing relics and dragged me over to look at them. I got so excited, I think I actually ignored the fact that the lady was offering to read my palm. And yes, this crazy-old Macintosh Apple IIe still works!

We soon ended our trip through the markets and decided to head off. Here is Daryl and me with our purchases; a rug and rosemary and lavender plants:

Instead of going home, Daryl suggested that we drive down to Mandurah since it was still so early in the day. I wasn't about to refuse a road trip so off we went! Here we are in his '81 Prelude:

And as usual, I get to be cramped up in the back:

We reached Mandurah and to my delight, there were those old trees that I used to climb as a child. So as I risked scraping the skin off my legs, I climbed the tree in the most inappropriate garb I could have worn for it; a skirt, rubber Havaiianas and a white blazer:

Looks like I still got it, but I couldn't risk dirtying the blazer and skirt by climbing any higher:

Being the child of the lot, I decided to play my part at the playground:

We soon spotted a scary-arse pelican trying his luck to get food by harassing a few barbecuers:

Walking toward the nearby Dome cafe for a few coffees, we spotted a dolphin swimming near the boat docks:

And I spotted the cutest, fattest St. Bernard puppy I've ever seen:

Photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Was a lovely day, I couldn't have asked for anything more. Thanks, bro.

Walk Away, Renee

2005-12-03T19:04:00.000+08:00

Michelle and I had our first big argument today.
What a day.
And it was all over a copy of the weekend newspaper for Daryl.
I called Daryl a cocky bastard.
Enough said.

Paint it Black

2005-12-01T18:43:00.000+08:00

Now that exams are over and I finally have a breather, and ignoring the fact that I have a magazine to compile and design, I decided that I had the time to finally decorate the apartment the way I want.

Michelle went out with Daryl the other day and found some cheap painting canvases at Lincraft (some store similar to Spotlight, but cheaper, for those at home). She had plans to paint the Chinese character for her surname in gold on a square, black, textured background. So I told her to buy me an A2-sized one for something I wanted to paint for my bedroom. When she got home, my canvas was smaller than I had imagined so I was stuck on what to do with it.

The next day, after yet another meeting about the Publications department with the International Students Committee, I went to Lincraft at Carousel with Michelle and I literally went crazy. I didn't think I missed painting that much but I obviously do. I bought two more small canvases to compliment the one I had at home and a huge A1-sized one. I had so many ideas running through my head at the time I was getting overtly excited when it came to choosing paint colours. In the end, I stuck with black, white and red because that was what we had planned for the house from the beginning. Blame our Chinese roots or just Michelle's obsession with red but I love those colours with a passion.

They compliment our dinnerware anyway:

I've always had this idea to create messages in different languages for each room or area of the house, so i went with it. Here's what I managed to come up with yesterday; the message "park (your arse) here" in Spanish for above the couch, and the Chinese character for "eat" for the dining area. Michelle and I plan to put "thinking room" in Malay in the toilet.

So here's the final panel of 3 pieces that make up the message for the couch. I painted the square canvas a rough, stripey red but left the other two white so that the words would stand out more. Notice how the too-small A2-sized canvas has now been used for "estacione":

I wanted to mount them up with about a ¾-inch space between canvases but I need to get my landlord to drill the holes for that. So doing it the cheap & easy way, I taped the canvases together with small wooden pieces for splints to hold them together and voila! I think they still work well stuck together for now:

This is how they look above my couch, hanging from that single screw that my landlord put in for us when we first moved in:

Now on to the dining room. I used the huge canvas to replace the awfully old-fashioned painting of Chinese junks on a river that our landlords had put up previously. As proposed, I painted the Chinese word "chi" on a bright red background with glossy black acrylic:

So it now sits above our dining table. We think it looks good and makes the right type of impact. The red makes you hungry though:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Tell us what you think!
And HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY, SHEEDA!

Happy Birthday!

2005-11-25T15:15:00.000+08:00

Today is Catarina's birthday and also the day that Therese leaves for good.
Therese is on her way to Sabah, Malaysia for this stretch of her travels and realistically, we probably won't get to see her for a long time to come. Also, Catarina's boyfriend Frederik came down to Perth about a week ago and now they're leaving Sunday to travel around Australia for a bit before going off to explore more of the world together. So last night, we invited them all, as well as Michelle's newest catch Jon, over for a Hainanese chicken rice dinner:

Left to right: Catarina, Frederik, Me, Therese, Jon & Michelle.

Of course, we surprised Catarina with an early birthday surprise, a Jamaican chocolate cheesecake. That's Fred snapping a few shots of her for their album:

We were so glad she liked it:

Photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY, CATARINA!

Magic Fly

2005-11-19T23:05:00.000+08:00

This is evidence that

The flies here are slow and stupid;
Michelle can kill some bugs when they do not pose the dreaded "creepy-crawly" threat.

Photo  Michelle Mok
Photo hosted by: www.flickr.com

Happy Birthday!

2005-11-13T11:14:00.000+08:00

HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY, GRACE!

The A Team

2005-11-10T23:46:00.000+08:00

As most of you have already read and probably sick of hearing about it as well,
I am part of the International Students Committee.
In October, I was re-elected as their Publications Director together with the other department heads. Michelle, my housemate and the new ISC Vice-president, organised a get-to-know dinner at a Chinese restaurant:

The new ISC members. Back row, from left to right: Dorothy (Education & Welfare), Samantha (Events), Gagandeep (HR), Libby (PR), Rick (Marketing), Renee (General Secretary). Front row, from left to right: The Fabulous Publications Director, Eric (our very vain President), James/ Woodsy (my slave a.k.a. graphic designer) and Michelle (out sexy Vice-president):

Photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

3 x 5

2005-11-08T22:06:00.000+08:00

Tim wanted to create a music video for the people back home to send along with the extensive documentation of his trip already captured on his video camera.
So off we went into the City, King's Park and Cottesloe Beach to create shots for his music video, played out to John Mayer's 3x5.

Waiting for the bus to King's Park. By the way, that's his permanent expression now because the wind changed and he got stuck like that:

Our very empty bus. Notice that there are only old people are on board with us:

Tim being gross as usual:

The fluffy clouds on that day:

Tim asking a family how the sun would set at King's Park. He wouldn't believe me that the sun wasn't gonna set in the direction he had hoped it would:

The Perth City skyline in daytime. You should have already seen it at night here. If not, go take a peek and see the difference:

The "Anzac Bluff" (the word "bluff" here refers to a steep hill).

It reads: This bluff below the State War Memorial is dedicated to the men of Anzac who fought and died in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. It resembles Ari Burnu where Anzacs stormed the beaches, fought upward and shared grievous losses with a valiant foe.

Here is Tim getting progressively frustrated with his laptop because it refused to play the John Mayer song for him to sing along to:

After a lot of laughs at the Park, we waited for the bus to head to Cottesloe Beach. Tim likes to grab every opportunity to play his guitar, so thank god he's got talent and can truly sing:

Another bad picture of us. For the record, we don't have a nice picture of the two of us. I hope it'll happen one day while we're travelling or we'll have to forever live with ugly pictures of our times together:

Since it was gonna be a long trip, he soon became my macro photography subject and had to tolerate the annoyance that is a camera lens pointing right into your eye.

Finally, we reach Cottesloe Beach. Note the cute, eager dog:

Our purpose of travelling to Cottesloe was to film the sunset. It took longer that expected to wait for the sun to dip to the right position so I took the time to snap a multitude of shots of the sunset,

Of Tim being an idiot,

And risked drowning my camera (again) to snap the rising tide:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

The music video looks great and I wish I could stream it for you guys here. I might do it when I get the chance to compress it...

The Game Don't Change

2005-11-08T02:15:00.000+08:00

Tonight the boys were over and Daryl brought his Playstation, allowing them to busy themselves watching The Simpsons DVDs and playing NBA 2005.
For those playing the home game, Tim played with the Detroit Pistons and Daryl, the Houston Rockets.
Michelle and I cooked them dinner and as usual, they simply sat back and enjoyed themselves the whole night.

Here they are, at it again after dinner. Pair of slackers, I tell ya...

Here, Tim demonstrates a freaky reaction to losing to Daryl, and that's me cheering them on at the side:

Their priceless expressions as Daryl beats Tim yet again:

Photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

It was a fun night and we hope for more to come!

Whenever I Call You Friend

2005-11-05T01:03:00.000+08:00

This is a quick post for those of you (you know who you are) who complain that I haven't got pictures of them in my house.
They're normally stuck to my desk because I'm not allowed to stick anything on the walls...
So, in violation of the terms on my lease, I shall dignify your requests and prove to you that you are indeed a part of my overcrowded workstation:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Soul Food

2005-10-29T11:57:00.000+08:00

I finally kept to my promise and cooked Tim dinner after he's cooked for me "like a million times," as he claims.

See how he repays me after I present him with an olive pasta, rosemary lamb chop and butter-sauteed asparagus combo?

Photo hosted by: www.flickr.com

Twister!

2005-10-26T00:58:00.000+08:00

I'm a Twister champion!
Yes, it's true. And I have the proof from last night's Curtin Public Relations Student Chapter event...

Here I am in my very first position; Right Hand on Red:

Here, I have finally gotten all four extremities in their respective spots:

I finally find myself (in a horribly unphotogenic angle) fighting it out for the prize with a young, enthusiastic guy.
"Dude, just quit, you'll never win!
And look, my hand is dangerously close to your balls..."
*Evil snigger*

In the end, the game took so long to come up with a winner, we're both awarded prizes in a tie. He got a frosty mug, I got musk-scented candles. FUN!

Photos  Michelle Mok
Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Lunchbox

2005-10-23T21:37:00.000+08:00

Woke up on this lazy day and read the Southern Gazette, our community newspaper.
Found the cutest adoption write-up ever:

Later on in the day, Michelle and I ended up tanning in the park down the road while we read up on our research for our essays:

This is how it all started - Michelle says the sun looks good today. We decide to catch some rays while we do our work. Since we're both hungry, she cooks nasi campur from whatever we have in the kitchen:

So, from this:

We get this!

Finally, meet a visitor to the park:

Selected photos  Michelle Mok
All photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Yellow Brick Road

2005-10-19T02:51:00.000+08:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our 70-year-old landlord is redoing the brickwork on our porch. I am starting to like the results, but here's some photos of the process. Will post the final look of it when I actually come home in broad daylight again...

Cecil, my landlord, doing a good job and dodging my camera at the same time:

Almost done!

And he's a messy one alright:

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Chocolate Salty Balls

2005-10-18T17:42:00.000+08:00

This is another one for Mum, this time to drool over.

It's from The Cheesecake Shop:

Behold, the Jamaican Chocolate Cheesecake:

Mmmm....

Photos hosted by: www.flickr.com

Special thanks to Daryl for picking it up for us.
Another reason to come here and visit me!