Sydney Trip Dec 2012 - Day 4

Today was quite a packed day. I went to the Opera House for a classical concert and tour. The walk to the Opera House was magnificient every second. The weather was good and the road was not crowded. I could walk with so much ease. There was a couple taking wedding photos and many people taking photos with the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House as the back drop. Nearing the Opera House, there was a GIGANTIC luxury liner anchored, waiting for its next departure. 

Learning from last night's lesson, I knew I can't be late for anything in Australia. I had lunch at the row of restaurants there. I ordered sashimi sushi with noodles. The waitress told me to finish the sushi quickly and beware of the seagulls. Because I was sitting so near to the sea, the seagulls must had locked me down as their target. I didn't even have time to take a picture of the food. I was just about to put the first piece of sushi into my mouth and suddenly there was a commotion on my table!!! I looked up and my prawn was gone!!!! The seagulls are large birds and they are aggressive!!! I was totally in shock! Luckily the rest of the sashimi are still intact and I quickly gobbled them down! I hate seagulls now.

I made my way to the concert hall for Totally Tchaikovsky. 

It is a small theatre with the stand in the centre. Despite it being an afternoon concert on a weekday, it was FULL house. The interior is beautiful but the acoustics were not as good as Esplanade's. Well, be reminded that this is an old theatre.

Then I joined the Sydney Opera House tour. Not late again ya! We were all given a headset so that when the tour guide speaks, we can hear it clearly and not creating noise pollution. Very innovative. Through the tour, I understood that building the Opera House was such great work and large sum of money. All the infrastructure and the casting of the beams were all great engineering works. I was really amazed. 

Think: How did they cast the curved roof?

I decided to take the ferry to Darling Harbour. They have so many routes and they operate using the same subway card! There I met my dear cousin and house mate for dinner. It was a really nice dinner. 

After dinner, we walked through QVB and they were displaying the largest Christmas tree decorated with Swarovski crystals. 

It's gonna be Christmas soon!!! 

Sydney Trip Dec 2012 - Day 3

Spending time with dear cousin is always so fun! But she is really a clean freak that some things she did were really unnecessary.

I went back to Darling Harbour for the Sydney Aquarium. I must say that this is much better than Singapore's Sentosa Aquarium and Korea's COEX Aquarium which I have visited. This is much bigger and the underground tunnel is longer. I spent quite a long time in the Aquarium.

Jellyfish are pretty!!

Then I walked from one end of Darling Harbour to the other. It was such a long walk! The sun was blazing today but it was not to warm. 

Dear cousin knocked off and we met at home to go to The Star - Lyric Theatre for Legally Blonde musical. We thought that it was still early and slowly made our way there. We totally underestimated the time, and to make things worse, we missed our subway stop!!! We were running towards the super faraway theatre. We were late and missed the first 10 minutes of the show. Australians are real punctual!!

Taken during intermission

After the show, it was a long walk back to the station. But this time we cut through the malls and had McDonalds for supper.

Sydney Trip Dec 2012 - Day 2

Today, I'm on my own as dear cousin need to work. She woke up at about 815 am for work. The sound from the house mate's showers is her daily second alarm clock. Amidst my sleep, I saw her washed up and changed in front of her big wardrobe mirror. Then I bid her goodbye.

I woke up much later then got ready and went out. At the subway, one random guy approached me and ask what my Christmas plans were. The first thought that came to my mind was that the people here can randomly converse with stranger, rather than him having evil intentions on me. Subway stations are clean and every station has at least a vending machine. I love how the country trust its citizens to keep public places clean.

Today I'm going to Darling Harbour. I caught The Last Reef on IMAX and walked around Darling Harbour a bit because I'm gonna be back here the next day. 

 I bought the tickets for light rail and took from the start to the end and back. As it travels out of the city, life seems to be quieter outside. I really liked my time here, without the thought of work and stuff.

I alighted the light rail and was at Westfield and Sydney Towers. 

I got a ticket and went up the Tower. The horizon is really curved!

Sydney Trip Dec 2012 - Day 1

I spent a whole 12 days with my dearest cousin in Sydney over my December holidays. It was actually a trip I even hesitated to go. Firstly there was no one I could find to go on a trip with me (because it's more expensive during peak period) and secondly, there was no special place I want to visit (due to financial constraints). So it was only quite late in the year that I decided to buy a ticket and fly to Sydney. It so happens that Scoot just started flying and I could fly on a budget!

Before the day I flew, I realised I need to apply for visa! I assumed that the Singapore passport was a "all-go" document. Luckily the visa could be applied online and I could proceed with my holiday!

The flight was at 2am. So it was quite easy to pass the 6.5 hour flight as most time was spent sleeping. I upgraded my seat to Super seats, but they are not any spacious than the normal seats. The in-flight meal was a small portion. 

Finally arrived at Syndey Airport! It was very easy navigating to the customs and belts. Before long, I was already out. Vodafone was located just outside the exit that I came out from. So I went to purchase a local SIM card and got the $49 Flexi Cap plan. After that I had an early lunch at Mac before taking the subway to St. Leonards station. Changing the trains at Central was a little confusing because of the number of lines there. However all the stations were baggage friendly - lifts!!

new train

old train

The trains were triple-decked. So cool!!! It took about 45 minutes from the airport to St. Leonards and called my cousin to bring me to her place. She had to walk over from her office and so after some instructions on how to walk, we finally saw each other across the street!! 

After much jumping and shouting, we went up to her rented apartment and put down my stuff. We had Korean food for dinner with another cousin at Chatswood and went up to his place to take a look.

We went back to St. Leonards and played some silly games for laughs before ending the night. I also got to know my cousin's apartment-mate and he is a very friendly and nice guy!

The weather is so great here! Ok, more updates tomorrow!!

Malacca Trip

I would say that this was the first time my four buddies and I went for a holiday overseas. We fixed it on 18th and 19th August (over the Hari Raya Puasa long weekend). It was surprising that there was no jam at all and we passed the customs without breaking into any sweat. Just that V's car did not have enough petrol and was fined and made to turn back to pump up.

First up, we had breakfast at 顺发肉骨茶 at Jalan Sutera 1, Taman Sentosa. It was a popular place for the Singaporeans to go there. Well, I liked it quite a lot and the price was reasonable too. However a trip later in the year with my parents, they said the soup was full of soy sauce taste and there was no pepper or herb taste at all.

After a hearty breakfast, we headed towards the North-South highway and to Malacca we go! With the help of GPS, we managed to find our apartment for the night. It was a 3-room apartment for the 5 of us. There was security guards at the Condo and the neighbourhood is quiet and peaceful. We stayed at Malacca Perfect Homestay (Kodominium Pasir Emas, Jalan Ujong Pasir, Melaka 75050 ). It cost RM$446 for one night. Isn't this cheap? If you are interested, you can book via AsiaWebDirect.com or call Mr Frederick Ho at +60127021177 or Mr Chris Bong at +60166260913 or email him at chrisland913@gmail.com. The apartment was very clean and felt very comfortable.

Room with 2 single beds

Master bedroom with attached toilet

Another view of the master bedroom

Master bedroom's toilet

Direct view out of the window

View on the left out of the window

View down at the carpark out of the window

Room with Queen bed

Mini cupboard, mirror and iron in the room with Queen bed

Kitchen with utensils

A small fridge, basin and stove

Common toilet

Shower in the common toilet

Living room sofa

Living room TV and light

View of the dining area from the living room

Another view of the dining area from the living room

Dining room

After we were settled and washed up, we left the apartment for late lunch and shopping. We had Melaka's famous chicken rice balls. They were basically everywhere along Jonker Street. So we just chose one to eat. There was a long queue but luckily it was quite fast. 

After lunch, we headed to 三叔公 to buy their goodies. Before that, we saw they were selling durian chendol, so we queued up (again) and bought 3 bowls to share. There were some seats for us luckily. 

After spending quite a while in the shop and quite a bit of money, we were thirsty again. We walked back to our car to deposit all our purchases and found a cafe for coffee. The weather was very hot and we really needed air-con!!! However after we sat down, we only realised that the cafe didn't have air-con! 

After coffee, it was almost dark. We walked down the whole stretch of Jonker Street. There were so many people and it became more difficult to walk as the crowd increases. We settled for dinner nearer to the end of the street. There were many hawkers there and there were tables. We found a table and ordered various dishes from all over. 

All the food was delicious. Luckily none of us had stomache. We drove back to our apartment to rest for the night. 

Next morning, we woke up and walked to the coffee shop just outside our apartment for breakfast. I simply love Malaysia's food.

We checked-out and drove out for shopping again. This time, we were at the malls and there was comfortable air-con! Lunch was at A&W's!!! How can we miss out on curly fries and Coke float??

It was about 4pm and we decided to leave Melaka. Otherwise it would be too late when we reach home. Dinner was at Jang Won Restaurant at Stulang Laut in Johor Bahru.

It was nearly 9pm and we couldn't really bear to leave. How we wished we could extend our short holiday. CP went back to his Johor home and the rest of us left JB for Singapore. Customs was again smooth.

There's defnitely gonna be the next holiday together!