The Running Man

Melbourne 2006

I have just returned from a long weekend in Melb (24 - 27 Aug) to visit some friends (ex-PwC) who are seconded there for the Australian CA programe (2+ yrs) - Michelle, Yishan, Darrell. It was my first time to Melbourne (what! you must be thinking) despite having stayed in Australia for over 13 yrs :P so it was quite exciting for me in that I finally got to see one of Aust's most cosmopolitan cities (might as well since I was in the area and the plane tickets were relatively cheap). The picture above shows Mich and Yishan as we are walking down Lygon St (something like the Italian side of Melb city) after they picked me up from the airport and we were looking for someplace for dinner.

Despite being in the Italian quarter of Melb, we settled for normal aussie food...a large burger with chips :P (above) at this place called Nocturnal ...something like an NYDC. Pretty standard stuff. Mich and Darrell (right) had some light stuff. Oh yeah did I mention that Melbourne is also the coffee capital of Australia..so many various cafes (and I am not talking Coffee Bean or Starbucks), but more like the quaint and small cafes with of course various quality of coffee. Too bad I am not a coffee drinker :P haha..wasted.

The next morning, Lynn (Mich and Yishan's room-mate...very nice) and myself set out for bfast. Both Yishan and Mich had to work..obviously, so Lynn was nice enough to accompany for my first walk around Melb CBD. We also wanted to check out this place recommended by Mich that apparantly sold $6.50 big breakfast...cheap by Australian standards :). The picture above shows me outside Mich and Yish's apartment..can you believe its right nxt door to the PwC building..talk about convenient (not to mention its a very fortuitous.."88") and its also a very nice place..with indoor heated swimming pool (small), free BBQ facilities, gym, and tennis courts. So much better than my Sydney place...haha..envious..could really enjoy it more if I was staying there :P. Plus the rent is cheaper than Sydney. Oh..and another thing, notice that I am carrying an umbrella? Yes, in Melbourne you also got variant weather...that means it can be rainy and cold one minute, and hot and sunny the next. Believe me, I have experienced it firsthand on the first day here. So an umbrella is an essential piece of equipment to tackle the four seasons in 1 day :P

So here is us (Lynn and me) at the bfast..I think its called Cafe Kodak??? its along the Yarra River foreshore. Quite a nice place and can see yourself really chilling out here with a good book and a cup of latte (and cake?)...haha :). Anyway the pictures below shows what we both had..all for $6.50!!! the first one is my big bfast, while Lynn had the vegetarian bfast.

2 eggs, 2 large toast, baked beans, gourmet sausage, bacon, mushrooms, and tomato

Scrambled eggs, 2 toast, mushrooms, spinach, baked beans, tomato.

Needless to say, I felt really super full after that meal, and so we walked around the Yarra river and Melb CBD. Lynn had to get back to the apartment to wait for the building supervisor to come and inspect so didn't really spend much time out. I would be going out later to explore Melb. Here are some pics of the Melbourne CBD skyline and another familar landmark ;)

Me with my trusty umbrealla again (how uncool :P) haha

A Familiar building?

After a short break back at Mich's apartment, I went out to meet Mich and Yishan for lunch. From some research and friend's advice, I wanted to go to this Jap resturant called Yu-U, and the this is it! Apparantly it has some of the best Jap food in Melb. As you can see from the picture its really like a 'hole in the wall' I mean, even the door had graffiti on it and there is this A4 printed paper telling customers that this was Yu-U...looks dodgey.

Wrong. This is what the inside looks like...pretty cool and stylish looking. Unfortunately, despite it being 'hidden' away...there are lots of people who go there and bookings are essential for lunch :P. So we didn't get to eat there (disappointed) and this place will have to wait till the next time I am back in Melb :).

After eating lunch at another Chinese place, I set off on my own to explore the wide streets of Melbourne. In my opinion it is so much more pleasant than Sydney, wider spaces, not as cramped and feels like there is less people :) (not to mention that it is the footy capital of Australia, and my team..the West Coast Eagles would be playing there constantly). Down side is the weather tho :P well cannot win them all...haha. The picture above shows me in Federation Square...err...I am not too sure of the significance of the place, but does seem to be a large open space in the middle of Melbourne with some shops around it :P The picture on the right shows Flinders St Station, something like the central railway station for the Melbourne CBD area. Quite historic looking eh...as opposed to those modern MRT stations we are use to in Singapore. Here are some more pictures of Melbourne CBD...nothing too fantastic, however you can almost never get lost in Melbourne as it is designed in a perfect grid like pattern, quite unlike the winding streets of Sydney.

The centre of the shopping in Melbourne...Bourke St Mall - notice the lines going down the centre of the mall, that is for the trams (there are no buses in Melbourne CBD...only trams). See the wide open spaces? Shops are pretty standard...those that you would expect from a normal Australian city.

Chinatown...pretty much 1 very long street with all the normal chinese type shops (resturants, souvenirs, chinese stuff :P). Walked around a bit, not in the mood to shop :( especially since there is no one with you and got no specific thing in mind to buy...more just for the sake of walking around Melb and having a look.

That night, I introduced the Singapore people to Aussie Rules Football (AFL, or "footy" as it is called). This game is unique to Australia and has the status of something like soccer to Singaporeans. This is a national sport and is big and crazy in Melbourne. Here is me standing outside Telstra Dome for the match of Western Bulldogs v St Kilda Saints. As you can see, its pretty packed :)

Haha...you would never guess what happened while Darrell and myself were waiting for the girls to arrive...I was randomly picked to give a short 'interview' to a...local Perth radio station (Groove 101.3 FM). Imagine that, someone from Perth, would be heard on Perth radio, in people's cars, houses, etc while visiting Melbourne! The picture above shows the 'interview' and me expressing my views on the game that was going to be played...haha. Thanks to Yishan for taking the picture...its a bit of an ego boost for me :P *celebrity* haha..

Above shows whats happened inside, as you can see its pretty packed..there was a crowd of about 40,000 + people inside and the roof was closed. My first live Melbourne football game (too bad my team wasn't playing...its all for the experience :P). Of course another 'tradition' at the footy is to have a beer there...which as you can see is what we all followed, coz some traditions are just not meant to be broken :P. Oh and you can only buy beer at the venue, due to safety reasons..you are not allowed to bring bottles and cans in (potential missiles). Cheers!

Some of the 'documents' for the night...top: the entrance ticket to the game ($18.50), bottom left: the train ticket ($3.20), bottom right: my betting ticket ($5 on 3:1 odds for the winning margin to be less than 15.5 points...the other team won by 50 points! :(...hey I had to bet coz otherwise won't have any interest in the game, my team wasn't playing..so not as passionate, needed the money factor..haha). Overall a good experience! :)

After a very very cold night, the next morning we set off for Phillip Island (all thanks to Tom Tom) to see the penguines that were meant to come ashore to go to their burrows on the island. The picture above shows the bridge we had to drive across to get to the island...pretty convenient. This was at a place just before Phillip Island called San Remo.

At San Remo, we had a late brunch at this organic cafe...which only served organic food (ie. not genetically modified in anyway). Tasted different. Not much of an opinion on it...probably too use to the GM stuff already..haha.

After breakfast, we headed across the bridge to Phillip Island, where our first stop was this Churchill Island Heritage Farm. There there was a market going on with various stalls...like a very very small Pasamalam. Here at this stall, it is claimed to have the 'Best Popcorn in the World!'...so those lovers of popcorn...please take note..haha. This place was something like an olden day farm, with a large homestead in the middle. Ok if you like the old style type of buildings...

Feeding the horses...

Mich and Yishan having their turn to feed the horses...a first time experience for them (being from Singapore). Think they enjoyed it :)

After the farm, we went to this beach (now for me...afterawhile 1 Aussie beach looks the same as any other Aussie beach...blue waters, white sands). I cannot remember the name of this beach, but it was nice. Even brought our KK (Krispy Kreme) all the way from Sydney to eat here.

The four of us with our KK, by the beach, in the bright Aussie sunshine...simple pleasures.

Lunchtime @ another one of those "world famous" fish & chips place...haha :)

After a quick lunch, we went to the Koala Wildlife Santuary, where we saw a total of....4 Koalas! Now Koalas are the 1 of the laziest mammals on earth...sleeping around 20 hrs a day, the rest of the time is spent eating. So it was no surprise that they were all sleeping and dormant when we went there. Not much of a Santuary..coz you would expect to see hundreds and hundreds of those grey creatures. Here is the best picture of 1 of them, for those who maybe have never seen 1 before...(its sleeping ;P).

Next stop..was Pyramid Rock. Kudos to Mich for thinking up a different pose with the sign :)

Pyramid Rock

We then proceeded to the objective of our trip..to see the penguines! Now this is the only picture I could take, as cameras are not allowed at all (they scare the penguines :P). But this picture of Yishan was taken at the beach, when I was blissfully unaware of that restriction :). What can I say about the penguine watching? They were small, cute and very timid (they were afraid of the many seagulls that were flying around, the lights, the sound, the people watching them emerge from the surf). So needless to say we spent about an hour in the freezing cold (its very very cold...make sure you bring lots of warm clothes if you are going here), and only saw a few batches of penguines...maybe they were still in the water waiting. But after awhile, we couldn't take the cold anymore and headed back..convinced that we'd seen all that we came to see :). Satisfied, we headed back to Sydney.

After dinner, an important place worth mentioning is Koko Black...those chocolate lovers take note! A must try is the hot chocolate...can you just imagine drinking melted chocolate? So rich and thick...makes the normal Cadbury stuff taste like...hmmm..water with a bit of cocoa powder in it :) haha... This place is a definitel must try place. Recommended.

posted by Darren at 5:05 AM | 0 comment(s)

The Best of You - Foo Fighters

I've got another confession to make
I'm your fool
Everyone's got their chains to break
Holdin' you

Were you born to resist or be abused?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Are you gone and onto someone new?
I needed somewhere to hang my head
Without your noose
You gave me something that I didn't have
But had no use
I was too weak to give in
Too strong to lose
My heart is under arrest again
But I break loose
My head is giving me life or death
But I can't choose
I swear I'll never give in
I refuse

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
You trust, you must
Confess
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Oh...Oh...Oh...Oh...Oh...

Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
The life, the love
You die to heal
The hope that starts
The broken hearts
You trust, you must
Confess

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

I've got another confession my friend
I'm no fool
I'm getting tired of starting again
Somewhere new

Were you born to resist or be abused?

I swear I'll never give in
I refuse

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
You trust, you must
Confess
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Oh

That song has been stuck in my head for awhile now...hopefully can find someone who has it so I can add to my collection.

posted by Darren at 10:49 AM | 0 comment(s)

Karma

A funny thought and a realisation has occurred to me...Karma does seem exist. You know the age old addage of: "what goes around...come around". Yeah well now that I have looked at certain past events in my life...I can safely say that I have done so not-so nice things to other people (maybe just out of a spur of the moment, alcohol effects or whatever crap reason) and karma really has come around and really bitten me in the ass as punishment. Badly. I do wonder to myself why I am being punished this way...maybe I brought it onto myself for just being me and not really taking a stand; being more perceptive or making a decision and prioritising what I consider to be important in my life. I have been told that things happen for a reason constantly, but I really find it extremely difficult to see what the reason is :P. If you are reading this sometime in the future...remember this lesson and all the experiences you have encountered and don't let yourself get caught up this way.
Life is full of "what ifs..." and regrets...I know it is important not to live life with regrets, but its only human nature to have regrets especially if you do feel strongly about somethings, and you can only rue the lost opportunities and "what ifs...". (especially me who if you know by know can get very emotional about somethings..sigh)

Life is unfair and can sometimes sux. Live it. Believe it. Accept it.

posted by Darren at 6:52 PM | 0 comment(s)

Tom Tom 1/2

This is one half of the 'Tom Tom' set (GPS). After about a week of waiting...it has finally arrived! No more looking at maps and worrying about getting lost..haha. That is as soon as I have gotten a PPC and uploaded as many maps as I can find (Singapore, Australia, HK, China, etc) of course not registered.

posted by Darren at 3:20 PM | 0 comment(s)

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

This is how I feel at the moment: Imagine its close to Christmas...and you have been waiting the entire month to open up your presents..expecting it to be something you liked or would enjoy (that is usually what you would expect right)...only to find that you got no presents :(

posted by Darren at 9:08 AM | 0 comment(s)

Pac-Xon 2

Would have gotten a higher score (look at the amount of lives I have!) but for I think I reached the limits of this online programme :P or my internet stuffed up...oh well, never playing this game again...a bit sick of it...haha

posted by Darren at 5:54 PM | 0 comment(s)

Realisation

I realise something...that I need to really find something to do, to at least distract myself on my free time while I am here (other than just constantly blogging away..haha). Hmmm...if only I had more friends here, or the work here is interesting and busy, if only I wasn't so dependent on some people for attention, if only, if only...there are just too many to list :P.
Well life is never ideal and can sometimes just sux when you are away from your friends, family and loved ones from an environment you are use to. Now for those who may have been reading my blog and must be thinking "omg...what sort of sappy/un-guy type guy is this!"...well to be honest I also don't know it myself...it just must all these factors that combine to amplify any emotions I usually feel. Plus you are not in my position and you are not me.
So as to my realisation part...well I just have to keep looking for things to do (difficult) and hoping that people are just patient and understanding to my mood and ramblings.

posted by Darren at 9:02 AM | 0 comment(s)

The morning after...

As the title suggests, this is the morning after my good sunday outing mentioned in my previous post. Today is a bank holiday (could've gone back to S'pore to visit Ser if I'd known earlier :P...you wouldn't expect a holiday out of nowhere right, well apparantly everyone seems to know) so I got heaps of spare time, although I got tons to do eg: grocery shopping, helping Marissa (pictured) clean the house, cook lunch and dinner, sort out my tax return, plan my scheme for Serene (as Ant so adaptly put it ;) haha), apply for a job. Ok getting a bit waylaid here..as I tend to do in this blog.
So after waking up at 8.30 am (a bit late for me but I was up online till 3am+ the night before..still on a sugar high..lucky I'd S'pore friends to keep me company, had some pretty interesting conversations :P about life, r/s, the usual stuff, etc...glad I have friends during times of need or just someone to talk to). As I was saying, after I woke up @ 8.30am on this beautiful Sydney morning, I decided to go and do some 'intense' running in the gym before I started the day...you know so that I can jump start my metabolism rate and I would feel more alert and not to mention its good for weight loss (ran 2km in 10mins), would've run for longer but my roommates were going for some very nice breakfast at a cafe in Glebe which Ant has been harping on about for ages.
Also I wanted to stop by the Broadway Shopping Centre to see if I can buy another 1GB thumb drive for Judy to give to Maxy (coz from my previous post, it was pretty cheap A$49 for a 1GB)..but unfortunately the stall was no longer there and the sale had ended :P. So after all the talk about this breakfast place...here it is (pictured above).
Ant even said the toilet at this cafe looked pretty good (right) so I took a picture of it (ahaha..silly right) and let you be the judge of that. Its quite a nice place and the food is delicious...its a cool feeling to be having a good breakfast on a Monday with friends while everyone else is working and you are just sitting there at this nice cafe on a nice blue day in Sydney. Sigh..this sort of experience (and the night before) would be unlikely if I were to return to Singapore :P. Anyway here are our breakfast pictures...dear, if you are reading this...look at the amount of mushrooms they gave Ant! Bring you there if we are ever in Sydney again ;) you will like it...well at least the mushrooms :P haha..

Look...Ant is actually smiling (for once)...and not 'angry' haha ;)

Prices...$14 for the big breakfasts (thats pretty standard for Sydney prices). Now need to see how good my plan is for a small lunch and small dinner for the rest of the day so as to not waste my morning 'run'...oh and also plan to use the sauna later for once and not do a 'Thor Liewwwy'.

After breakfast, its was back home to do all the tasks listed above.

posted by Darren at 3:30 AM | 0 comment(s)

A Good Sunday in Sydney (finally!)

As the title suggests...I finally had a semi-fun or interesting Sunday in Sydney. So to mark the momentuous occassion (sarcastic I know :P) I have decided to blog it (luckily I brought my new camera out..so much more convenient than that SLR I borrowed from Ant..also it was a slow day today).
The day began when we went to Fox Studies to the Entertainment Quarter, where there was usually a multicultural market there on Sundays. We went around lunchtime and decided to try out the 'ethnic' food that was on offer. At the market there was this Spanish stall which sold 'typical' Spanish food (duh)...well anyway they had this really nice 'Chorizo Roll' (see menu pictured on the right) which is essentially a Spanish sausage (with herbs and spices) in a bun. It was ok...a different taste, but what made it really good was the sauces..oh I gotta remember to get the sauces next time :P we put so much on our rolls that it was almost drenched in it. There were 2 types: one green pesto + parsley sauce and another 1 that was red in colour and contained tumeric and (that red spice that is used in some curries...forgot the name). Wanted to buy some home for dinner but we forgot :(. Delicious (for the sauces). Recommended.

Marissa and me at the stall, with the two 'Spanish' guys..haha. Now for those who don't know Marissa, she is Ant's gf..and from my 3 mths living with them, she has always been very thoughtful, generous, caring and so very nice to me (I really appreciate it and am so thankful for that).

Us with our Chorizo Rolls and the sauce!

Quite a simple set up...BBQ, chorizo sausages, red peppers...and probably a very healthy profit margin if the sausage and bun is being sold at $5.50 each. Mmmmm...I can still smell those sausages.

For those of you who know me, you would probably know that 1 roll with a bit of sausage in it, is not enough for lunch :P. So with that thought Ant and myself went off in search of more 'ethnic' food (that is my term given to food that is unusual and probably cannot or hard to get in Australia because of a non-mainstream culture). As you can see from the picture (left) its quite a small market and pretty touristy stuff, but at least the food was unique and prices reasonable. We stopped by this other stall...that sold Euthopian food! In case you don't know..Euthopia is in Africa (and is usually on the news for all the wrong reasons...civil war, starving and malnutritioned children, etc...oh and very good long distance marathon runners...see the Olympics?).

Here is what we had...it can be described as a pancake with chic peas, butter chicken and potatoes (see the picture above going from R to L). It was so filling, which makes me wonder that if this was typical Euthopian food then there should be plenty of fat Euthopians around. Luckily I had Ant and Marissa to share it with me. It was something different from the normal mainstream stuff and pretty tasty (cost: $6.50).

After our Euthopian food we went off to get our movie tickets for 'The Lakehouse' but due to a programming error we found out that we'd missed the show :P. So instead we went off and tried to search for the traditional photo shot I took with Ant when we were at Fox studios in 2000. Now that was during the time of normal 35mm cameras, it was 1 of those cut-out figures with the heads missing and you could just stick your head through them and take a picture. I am pretty sure I was Arnold Swarzenneggar and Ant was Marilyn Monroe..ahaha. So in keeping with tradition we set off in search of it. Unfortunately, that was some years ago and they have removed that cut-out. So we decided to take a new picture near the site of where that cut-out stood:

Ant is pretending to hold onto the Kangaroo's tail...while I look like I got my hand on the guy's butt and have some kind of perverted smile :P how embarrassing! haha...Marissa is the only 1 looking normal in the pic.

We then went to the Broadway Shopping Centre, where we caught the Lakehouse...not bad..only an ok chick flick (no surprises for guessing who wanted to watch it). Oh and on impluse I bought a 1 GB thumb drive on sale @ $49...according to Ant its pretty cheap and I wanted 1 anyway (because I didn't want to be dragging my 60 GB portable HDD everywhere and its not so convenient...plus it has got all my important photos and songs :P). Later that day, I was scheduled to meet my good old OCS friend Chuan Syn and his wife, Cindy for dinner...

I was going to meet them at Kings Cross @ 7pm...so after a short break back at home I went off to the train station. Along the way, there was a boat show at Darling Harbour (pictured)...there were all these boats, and yachts on sale there and as you can see, there was plenty of them. Sigh...if only I had a spare couple of million in my pocket...I would definitely be there! haha...

I took CS and Cindy to Ramankan, this little 'hole-in-the-wall' Japanese resturant in Chinatown (gotta give credit to Ant for showing it to me only a couple of days before)...you know its good if you actually see lots of Japanese eating there. There is no sign..only this doorway by the street that leads to an elevator..you go up to the 1st level..and can there is this nice cosy Jap resturant. If you are reading this dear...I will take you here definitely...so much better than the Kinokuniya place we use to eat...oh and it has your Cha Su Raman ;). After this very authentic dinner, which both CS and Cindy loved...I took them to this ice-cream cafe 'the Riveria cafe' for some desert. At this point I was feeling pretty good becuase you know when you are taking visitors around a new city you want them to really enjoy the places you think are good...genuinely..and not out of politeness. This was the case with Ramankan (score 1!). Anyway because Cindy likes ice-cream we decided to order a 'Rainbow' (cost: $30..not cheap for ice-cream) that is meant to be shared between 2-3 people (as described on the menu). This is what we got!!! (see CS's expression..not to mention mine and Cindy's) It was huge..I counted at least 12 scoops + of ice-cream all of varying flavours (mango and passionfruit were my favourite!). So for all those ice-cream lovers out there...this is your heaven.

The following pictures show us as we tried to tackle this monster...

Group picture of us while we can still smile as we prepare to tackle this rainbow. Oh and there were larger sizes on offer too..and the more economy minded one would have gone for the 'Maxy' which is for 5-6 people (I shudder to think about what the size of that 1 would be...and it should be able to feed at least 8 people).

A close-up of the ice-cream..see all the pretty colours :P

CS and Cindy slowly working it down...you can see that Cindy is clearly enjoying this monster. Ahh...the joys of marriage life together :P it only seemed like yesterday when I met this young hot-shot pilot at OCS during our Tango time...how things have changed, he is still my good friend we ate a lot together when in S'pore hahaa...

Finally finished..or at least make it look decently 'finished'.

But I think CS (and myself) are paying the price for our determination...at this point we all are on a sugar high (something like drinking lots of alcohol but with sugar). We all are just laughing and talking about crap...must have been the sugar. Still qutie fun..its like sharing a bottle of JD or vodka amongst the 3 of us.

Ahhh..the lovely Cindy, still looks like she is ready to order a second serving (I think its coz me and CS mainly did all the eating haha...just kidding Cin if you are reading this...I am very sure you did your part :P) Should try the mango flavour next time...delicious...haha :P

The lovely couple with the sign just as we are leaving...hmmm...I don't think anyone of us can sleep tonight (too much sugar..I am now afraid of ice-creams).

CS and myself. Looking forward to catching up with him in S'pore when he returns in Jun 07.

After we parted company, I couldn't wait to call Ser and tell her about my day. Not that it is spectacular of anything, but at least I have something to tell her and it was quite a relaxed and fun day for me. Usually, when we talk Sundays are pretty boring for me as its just household chores and watching TV :P. So really looking forward to at least sharing with my dear all these new places that was discovered. Also feeling the effects of the sugar and was waiting for the opp the entire day to 'surprise' her...haha

ps: didn't talk to Ser...am posting this to remind myself not to do what I did.

posted by Darren at 12:05 PM | 0 comment(s)