its a long time since the blog is updated...sorry la. during these months i ORDed from army and started teaching le...still in the process of adjusting. though there is plenty to say about education system, but i better save it for a more private place like a diary, in case i should get into trouble. ;p
okok...just b4 i ORD and join teaching, the restless lone ranger yongli is up to his usual tricks again...so within 2 wks i had the idea to go to melbourne to drive myself around...this time research also not complete, dun care...just chiong...alone, as usual. the ultimate freedom in travelling.
oh, btw in case u read abt me driving in melbourne, i got my license! many frenz scold me for being too daring..just pass only, somemore dunno the place at all then rent car and go play le..but thats the whole idea ma, if not get license for wat? drive in the boring roads in sg meh, must make my first driving experience memorable mah! so i chose the great ocean road as my first 'circuit'.
lemme first list my credits...i have to thank nicole for her kind loan of her camera that made these pictures possible...i just didnt trust the quality of my own digicam. perhaps time to invest in one more oredi.
WARNING: if u get seasick easily, leave this post immediately, because u have countless pictures of the sea.
ok...enuf of rubbish...intro write too long become out of point liao.
31 Aug 07 Friday
call me a swakoo, but i have nv taken a night flight, nv taken SQ, and nv left from terminal 2...so thats 3 records broken for taking SQ237 to melbourne, departing 2335 from T2 and due to arrive 0855 (+1) at tullamarine, melbourne. time zone in melb is 2 hours ahead of sg.
tried to sleep but cant really sleep, so all night i have been playing with the krisworld inflight entertainment system...and replaying the same albums over n over again...jj lin's 西界, steph sun's 逆光, SHE's play album...and a bit of cyndi and ah qin's album. meals and service was good, so no complaints despite losing one night of sleep on the 7h 20 min SQ flight.
1 Sep 07 Saturday
i have always been awake, but the sunrise did wake up all the excitement in me cos it means arrival is near. and i had this nice view from my window as i enjoyed my hot breakfast.
a path to heaven? hehe.
i was told thru the inflight announcement that its a cold morning in melbourne, temp is abt 7°C...woohoo...n im just wearing t-shirt jeans with a thin jacket that is more for decorative purposes that trapping heat that i wear in sg...btw, its late winter and early spring in melbourne, which explains the temperature.
i got off the plane to know what 7°C means....brrr.....sooooo cold! but things got better in the main terminal building where the artificial temperature is much more comfy.
i actually went to melb without a single australian cent in my wallet. from my experience, if u intend to withdraw large amounts like S$500 or so, get a cirrus-enabled atm card and just withdraw at an atm overseas rather than change it back home. you have to pay a $5 admin fee per withdrawal, but it beats paying the huge exchange rate difference anytime anyday!
took a bus from the airport to the city. 20 min only, not like many cities where the airport is dunno where one, like taipei, bkk, kl or jakarta.
its cold walking in the streets of melb, but obviously i had to get to the hotel to dump luggage first. architecture aside, the first thing that caught my attn was the barren trees.
like i always say, ppl always take things for granted..and new things always appear nicer. i was actually quite fascinated by the trees and the beauty. though they're just trees.
短暂的总是浪漫 漫长总会不满 - 陈奕迅 爱情转移
10am...checked into my room...a bit noisy from the street outside leh. cos its 2nd floor facing the main road. supposed to be a 4-star hotel but apparently the star ratings in australia a bit more liberal...i've stayed in 4-stars throughout my trip but i think price and quality wise they are nearer 3 to 3½ when measured against places like kl, taiwan, etc. but no complaints! the rooms were still comfortable, clean and the staff was friendly. just the noise la.
so once i reached melbourne, i engaged in an extremely exciting activity...sleep. tired from flight la.
woke up at 12pm and decided i need lunch. heard quite a bit about the variety and quality of food in melb esp chinese and italian food, so decided to wander off to chinatown for lunch before deciding what to do next. enroute, passed by many interesting buildings with unique architechture, including some churches, the courts and the general post office.
melb is pretty random in terms of city planning as u can see...suddenly u find one modern building right smack in the middle of nice old buildings.
this is chinatown. notice the street lamps. chinatown is well, chinatown lor, not like our own sg chinatown looks any different from this.
lunch was wanton mee....the serving is huge, costs me A$8 and the wanton is quite interesting. u can bite into prawns, the rest is meatball but its the elastic and juicy type, not the nua nua type u get here.
after lunch is wander around the city semi-aimlessly...hoping to catch the day tour to philip island but probably wun make it - too late already. so really free and easy la!
churches, other than being a place of worship, usually serve as a preservation of the heritage and the display of the creativity and the fine workmanship. this is the beautiful st paul's cathedral, i wonder why i didn't go in to take a look...sigh.
in front of the cathedral there is this statue of flinders there. look closely.
did u see the bird on his head? haha. he must have been a friendly guy.
further up is federation square, said to be an insight into the lifestyle of they melb city folks as they gather here on weekends. the idol craze is worldwide, and there is a singing competition held at the square when i went.
this is the flinders street train station, and this building is often used as a landmark to identify melbourne. nice building!
notice the network of wires above? these are for the trams ah. trams in melb range from the extremely slow and antique to the extremely modern.
went down to the visitor centre at federation square to collect some info...wah ask them qn also must take queue number to slowly wait...so wasted a bit of time there.
late for my penguin tour oredi, its abt 2.45 pm when i left the visitor centre. walked to elizabeth street to check out the prices of car rental in case i could drive there myself, was A$80...then somemore need to drive my own, pay petrol, and dunno the way around...then better not lar, stay in city better, tmr then go ba...
3.15 pm
took a city circle tram (free of charge) around the city to see the buildings...one round is about 45 minutes. still got commentary one, just like those in the zoo. and its free! melb really know how to cater to tourists. its a great way to get to know the city. meanwhile on the tram can plan what to see for the late afternoon and evening...will visit 3 attractions that are close together: the immigration musuem, the aquarium and the melbourne observation deck. then at night detour to the crown casino.
4 pm
got off the tram to see the immigration musuem. have always taken an interest in seafaring history, due to exposure to the game 'uncharted waters' by koei when i was a child (in fact i still play the old series once in a while to relive those memories). very interesting artefacts and presentations to show the tough life of the immigrants...wah kaoz, cannot sleep on plane for 7.5 hours oredi complain, wat about people who spent months in a ship, weathering the storms and enduring the cramped, unhygenic and boring journey?
then got this cute exhibit that shows some other 'immigrants' that came on the ships too. reason for immigration: "we go where we choose"
5 pm: the melbourne aquarium. colourful corals.
what do you think these are?
i was surprised when i saw the description...these are shark eggs!
melb aquarium was built beside yarra river, and this is the view across the river. the building on the left sure looks like a ruler with the markings. just right of this picture is the crown casino.
5.45 pm
its almost sunset and i want to be on the observation deck to see the scenery by day. somehow at night it is just lights..i prefer the day view. but i did go back at night to see the night view. as it is still late winter and before the equinox, days are still shorter, sunrise is about 7am and sunset about 6pm.
this is the foot of the observation deck. i would call this a picture of contrasts. old and new building side by side, one looking dark and one allowing light to penetrate, and even the trees cant agree whether to be bald or green.
a view from the observation deck, which is 55 storeys high.
buildings look like toys
an advertisement on the rooftop - for who to see? further up are the southern cross train station (another main train station) and the telstra dome, which is an indoor stadium.
sian...captured the reflection cos of the position of the sun.
got down the tower and went to a kebab place that i passed by just now. the kebab was good! apparently it is still cold and nobody pass by there, i could chit chat with the chef, who is a turkish student working part time in melb.
after that it was 7pm and a brief return to the observation deck. then i went down, crossed the bridge to the other side of yarra river and began tapping felt tables and being A$200 richer.
in case u read until blur blur...go casino la! the casino there is really different from the crappy ones u get in genting lor. u have friendly croupiers who will talk to u, more standard odds unlike the genting-style rip-off version of pontoon, and a generally comfortable ambience. in the vip room that is open to all, minimum stakes are A$50-75, and you get drinks served to you for free. baccarat in the vip room allows the highest better for both player and banker to handle the cards, many of them even fold it this way and that lor. those who seen me play in a casino will know why i often get to touch the cards despite betting only A$50-100.
other than that, the crown entertainment complex is huge. restaurants, bars, shopping, clubs, and even a fire performance outdoors at hourly intervals. took a brief walk around the complex and walked back to the hotel sophia along king street.
2 Sep 07 Sunday
The day begins with a trip to the Flagstaff Gardens and Victoria Market. There is this church beside the garden.
This is Victoria Market. Something like a huge pasar malam. maybe pasar pagi, since they open in the day unlike the taiwan and hk markets that light to open at night. u can find about anything and everything there, from clothes to clocks to watches to souvenirs to coasters to nougats to opals...spent a good part of the morning up till 11++ wandering in the market.
longans cost A$12 per kg...wow!
the former working mens college, now part of the RMIT campus
further up from here i was approached by a girl in late teens or early twenties asking me for directions. from the accent, obviously singaporean. wa kaoz, i holding a map and carrying a big backpack lor, quite obvious im a tourist wat. so i could only give her the blur look, try to look inside my map, but cant find anything she wanted.
the royal exhibition hall. quite obvious where the wind is blowing.
St Patrick's Cathedral i think? not so sure cos never ventured that far inside to find out properly.
princess theatre. very delicate architecture, esp the roof structures.
this is the melbourne parliament house. i heard the granite came from grampians!
ok..thats all for the half day city tour by foot...its 12.30pm, time to find lunch n go on a half day tour to see penguins. lunch was a pizza, which is good la. makes sg pizzas taste like dunno what like tt.
first stop was a farm.
there, caught u red-handed!
does spring come earlier in the farm than in the city?
next stop: koala conservation centre
these cuddly fellas are so cute! and they sleep 20h a day. im envious...
this is the noobies on phillip island. during warmer months there are fur seals on the rocks. but during winter months only got rocks and the huges waves that come in and splash water all over. still a nice sight though.
look at those waves...
and the white foam. can imagine the force with which the waves come in.
when i travel alone it is rare to find a picture with me inside. sorry la, if i spoil the picture.
i think i somehow look intelligent in this picture, dun u think so? wahhaha...bhb!
from the top of a cliff
this is where we sit and watch the little penguins as they come on shore
tts how small the penguins are
during the night it was freezing cold....really damn freezing cold. the penguins come in after sunset, but no photography allowed. but they were really really cute! the way they walked with their flippers in front of them as if they will stumble upon them...the way they gather on the beach before making the dash...the way they sway side to side...eww..
