back in Brisbane

***temporary out of hibernating mode***

"Welcome Back!" I was greeted by the airport staff @ Brisbane Airport upon my arrival into Brisbane tis morning at abt 6am. well.. indeed is really welcome back to this foreign yet familiar ground where i spent most of time in for the past 3 yrs. tis is the last semester for my studies.. & is all abt my thesis. had spent abt 3 mths in Spore to research and collect data for it and nOw i am back here to finish the last bit. all i wish for is to finish this thesis in ONE piece so tat i can account for myself and everyone else who have been wishing all the best for me. few more mths and i noe is juz not far away. i will continue to work hard.. i will!

anyway, back to sending off @ Airport. my little angel, Lynnette was there with my parents, aunties and cousins to send me off. heehee... @ the new terminal, T3... Lynnette had a great time running up and down and i had a fun time chasing after her. whahahaha... she keep calling out to me "Ah Yee"... aiyooo... i so bu she de her ah... well, i asked my cousin to show Lynnette my photo every week so tat she wun forget me. hahaha... kids have short memory. hopefully few mths later, she still rem me! :D

there u r, my dearie niece, Lynnette Yap! cutie.. sweetie...

midnite flight is as usual tiring. but i had a very entertaining flight as i watched 2 movies which i always wanna watch but din had the chance or dun wish to spend the money. 1st movie watched: Sky of Love... Jap love story.. kinda sad storyline. 2nd movie watched: Alvin and the Chipsmunks! gosh!!! damn cute ah! esp when they r singing.. heartwarming for the ending.. haha.. juz as i was getting tired and decided to nap a while onboard the plane, the light was on. aiyooo.. is time for breakfast ah! hahaha.. so bo bian lor.. nv sleep at all onboard the plane & was in time to snap a quick shot of the 1st look on 27 April....

on board the plane.. when the 1st ray of light slowly rise up... *part of the aeroplane engine and the cloudy sky*

upon arrival back to my hostel, unpacked my stuff and did some laundry and quickly nap for 2hrs before i set off to something that i had been anticipating for the past few mths. yeahz!!!! is....

Phantom of the Opera!!! gosh~!!! finally is my turn to watch it! woohoo~!!!

met up with Joyce and Felicia... while waiting for Felicia's fren, we took a photo @ the lobby...

no photographs allowed to be taken inside but we took many illegal shots.. hahaha... here i am with the backdrop of the stage during the interval.

indeed i was feeling very tired after the flight but i really tink i made a worthwhile choice. it was a great performance with very professional performers and extremely breathtaking sound and stage effect...

after the show, we set off for dinner @...

Norman Hotel for steak..

tis hotel name banner is rather interesting with the tagline written as "Brisbane's worst vegetarian restaurant".. hahaha... gimmick ah... indeed it attracted our attention. i tot it was pretty creative ah...

the gals order oysters... quote from Felicia... these oysters have very strong "oceanic" smell. hahaha.. means is very FRESH!

my order of Augus Rib Fillet with Pepper Sauce... yummy!!!

Joyce & I...

Group Photo before we feast...

Day 1 in Brisbane passed by very fast... time to hit the bed cos i am really tired. can hardly open my eyes now. tomolo will be busy day with lots of admin stuff to handle... & i promise tat i will work hard, din i? so is time to practice wat i promise!

Blog under hibernating mode...

hereby declare my blog is going thru a period of hibernation ah... hahaha... all thanks to my thesis la. haiz... now my life is nutting else but thesis. everyday write and write.. facing lappy almost for the whole day. i oso dunno if i can do well for tis thesis, all i noe is tat i need to finish it by June so tat i can graduate! so for the time being, i tink tis blog will be given a long break. hahaha...

before my blog takes a good break, some updates to be made. life for past few weeks is nutting interesting. almost everyday stay home, at most go for doc appointment or library to enjoy air con while doing my work. only managed to go out for a breather with my Spice buddies on sat and went for AMKSS Symponic Band performance on Mon. basically nutting to update oso. haiz...

so i oso lazy to upload all the photos la.. juz sui pian upload 2 of the photos taken during our gathering on Sat @ Ichiban Boshi & Timbre. Ichiban Boshi again cos Jun wanna collect stamps for his card. ha! as for Timbre, it was recommended by Jas. hmm.. good recommendation. ambience @ Timbre is really quite good, though sort of open air. however, mayb is becos of the rain on Sat, the surrounding seems a bit stuffy. overall everything was good apart from Lin was not there with us on Sat as she was too tired to join us after her game.. poor girl... make sure to meet us when u r free, k?

Photo taken from Timbre.. nite scene of Boat Quay with CBD skyscrapers as background...

jus the 4 of us...

Monday's band concert was by AMKSS. whahaha.. din noe AMKSS' band can be so good to perform @ Esplanade. went to give them support with Lian, Jas, Zhanfei and my cousins, Weiqi & Jessica. Jun was there with his fren. haha... since AMKSS did a great job to be able to receive Gold Honours award (according to Jun, the best of all liao), muz show support, rite? shun bian can bring my cousins along to give them some exposure on band's stuff since both of them r in their sec sch's band. performance was good, seriously din noe AMKSS band can be so good wor. hahaha.. & saw some teachers from AMKSS too. they still look the same of cos.. esp some of our fav teachers, such as Mr Ong, Mrs Ismail and Miss Karim. hahaha... 30th yrs anniversary for AMKSS next yr according to the teachers... anyone keen to go back and organise some events? whahaha...

okiedokie... time to get back to work again. hmm... soon soon.. i am going off soon... yet again...

Happy Easter in Singapore!!!

for the past 2 years, Easter had been spent in Australia with Easter Eggs Exchange and Easter Dinner Feast. this year Easter was kinda different. cos I am in Singapore. not so much abt Easter Eggs Exchange here but i still had great fun on Good Friday itself. FUN as in REAL FUN, with laughter and happiness filling up the whole house and bubbles floating around us... heehee... they r the ones who made all these happened.. yeahz! they r the little ones in my family.. my little nieces and nephew!!!

bubbles floating around... wooo.... bubbles will always be kids' best fren.. mmm.. & oso adults' best fren! haha...

poor Lynnette.. her bubbles foam was spilled all over the floor... so her Mummy suggested tat we shld juz give her a bottle of water to let her hold on to since she like to hold on to a bottle while chasing after the bubbles & NO bubbles foam will be spilled out again & be wasted.. aiyo... Mummy trying to bluff her own daughter... so bad.. whahaha...

Joyce was trying to catch the bubbles with her bare hands.. see her 马步.. steady leh! haha.. & see the BIG bubble above Lynnette's head... woo... with a little imagination, our cutie Lynnette became an angel with Bubble Halo...

~ blow bubbles blow~!!

Joyce trying to master the skill of blowing bubbles.. but she used too much strength, so her bubbles always burst. no worries.. few more practice, she will be an expert in blowing bubbles liao! hahaha...

as for Lynnette.. she oso mastered a skill while running after the bubbles.. she was able to use her bubble stick to catch the bubbles and put them back into the bottle. hahaha... tat's nOt as simple as it seems ohhh.. u need eyes and hands coordination. for a 15 months kid, Lynnette did a brilliant job! Well Done! :D

he is only 7 months old, can't walk around on his own. so Baby Anthony "hired" a "human standing chair" so tat he can enjoy the bubbles tat are floating around... whahaha... smart boy leh..

Fun time with bubbles... Lynnette and Joyce running around with bubbles floating around them...

after much persuasion, Joyce still refused to give me a smile. but i managed to take a shot of her bitting her lips.. look kinda cute oso ah...

Grandma and Baby Anthony... Anthony is Grandma's great-grandson... wooo... 1st & 4th generation...

Auntie Cindy & Baby Anthony... haha... with Baby Anthony & the other 2 of my nieces around, everyone was "promoted". so Auntie Cindy became 姨婆 aka Grand Aunt... heehee...

Baby Anthony trying to hit his 阿姨 Me? no la.. he was shaking his toys for some noise... "ting-ting-tang-tang"!!!

little cutie has chubby cheeks and big round eyes with a very IN and stylo kiddy Armani hairstyle... heehee.. Grandma said tat he looks like those superstar celebrities who like to style their hair in tis manner... whahaha...

heehee... he is laughing... PS: side view of his hair style look ever more stylo sia... really standing!!!

Chubby cheeks on the round round face.. my cutie nephew, Anthony aka Jun Yi...

after playing with my nieces and nephew, i went to meet Fiona for movie and dinner. we decided to watch Step Up 2 at Lido. I thought there will be alot of people since it was public hols but the cinema was not as crowded as expected. guess the pricey movie tickets did had some effect afterall. it cost us each $10 to watch a show during public hols ah... aiyoooo...

hmm.. i read the newspapers critics a few days back abt Step Up 2. it said tat if u r going for a good story for a movie, dun try Step Up 2 cos tis show is more of appreciating the dance steps. true enough.. it was wat i felt after watching the show. the main focus was really on the dance steps, nutting fantastic abt the storyline. The dance steps in the show was nicely choreographed and presented professionally by the dancers. & oso i felt tat the male lead dun really suit the character. he looks a bit too old for his character ba... haha...

after movie, we went to Cuppage for dinner. well, everyone has been telling me tat Waraku @ Cuppage is well-known for its food. so we decided to give it a try. hahaha.. before going, Fiona asked me "u really like to eat Japanese food huh? eat so many times, not sian mah?" well, honestly speaking, i nv touch sushi & was nv into Jap food before i went to Australia. but after a few times of trying, i quite like the taste of Jap food. Brisbane's jap food is yummy so i oso muz see if Spore's jap food is as yummy. dun mind trying a few but i dun mean to say Jap food is my fav so i muz eat it everytime la. oso muz have variety at times. heehee.. anyway, take a look @ wat we ordered for dinner.. we had quite a feast. was damn FULL after eating la...

some cocktail before dinner... Sakae Lime (green) & Beautiful Lady (red).. sour vs sweet...

i tot it was kinda amazing tat the paper wun burned with such hot soup in it and fire burning below. so we decided to order tis Beef Kaminabe to try.. not too bad... we chose spicy soup base, very appettizing with the spicy taste.

i ordered tis Katsu Curry Don as i am kinda craving for Jap Curry... the curry taste is juz nice, not too sweet, not too salty... the pork cutlet remained quite crispy even being soaked in the curry sauce for a while. as for the rice serving, quite a lot ah. is like no matter how much we eat, the rice is still alot leh. hahaha...

Fiona's Chicken Teriyaki Don... looks yummy... i tink the serving is really alot oso... is rice tat cheap ah? hahaha...

Side Dish 1: Deep Fried Salmon with Tartar Sauce.. one bite & the tartar sauce oozed out.. juicy salmon still remained quite fresh even after being deep fried.

Side Dish 2: Okonomi Yaki... is Seafood Pancake. different from the one at Pasta De Waraku as tis is served in a hotplate over the fire. is still sizzling when is served but the bottom of the pancake is not burnt at all. the seafood is very fresh too.

updates...

On Sunday:

y issit that my gathering with my poly frens always end up with juz a few pple leh? haiz... i haven been able to meet up with every one of them wor... aiyoooo... of cos when is juz few of us, we can still have our own fun, laughter and jokes.

met up with Jace and Pat on Sunday at Vivo. 1st visit to Vivo ever since i came back. haha... it is always the usual scene... crowds everywhere at Vivo, the place which i think i nv fail to get lost at some point. haha... me and pat went to Toast Box for some snacks before Jace arrived. well, Jace nv fail to "disappoint" me with her ever lateness. hahaha... used to it liao anyway. since poly days, she has always been our Queen of Lateness... anyway, after she came, we went to shop around before deciding to settle our dinner at the HK Gary Cafe @ Vivo. tat was my 2nd visit to the cafe. previously i went with my Spice gang abt 1 yr ago. well, food okay la but portion really quite alot. end up our dessert at next door, White Dog cafe had to be cancelled! hahaha...

while waiting for our food to be served.. let me show off my "zi pai" skill... wooo... 3 big heads! hahaha...

i ordered tis Pork Chop with twin sauce (mince beef sauce plus sweet cream sauce)...

On Monday:

as for yesterday, i went for my doctor appointment at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in the morning. for my ear infection la... haiz.... so many pple lor. had to wait for quite a while. the doctor assessed my rite ear and said the infection is getting better as in is only slightly infected now. so she tried to use some equipment to suck out the plasma in my rite ear and shun pian clear up the ear wax in my left ear. guess wat? after she was done, i was tearing... the pain was kinda unbearable ah. i juz nv screamed ah. she oso nv tell me is gonna hurt so so much... for a moment, both of my ears r completely numb. pain until no feel ah. gosh~!!! thank goodness is temporary only, if not i really can cry ah...

after TTSH, i headed straight to NUS to return a book that was due so tat Jun wun be fined for overdue books. hahaha... then i waited for his class to end and we went to Sim Lim to get my laptop cooler fan and card reader. after which we went to Marina Square for our late lunch or early dinner. really regretted ah... regret not becos wrong choice of restaurant but wrong lunch/dinner khaki ah. tat guy la.. always grumble i nv treat him when he always helped me with tis and tat. so to stop him from grumbling and nagging, i shall give him a treat. cheap ones, he dun wanna leh. wanna treat him a cup of watermelon juice from NUS, he said dun wan cos too cheap. wanna treat him Tu-Tu kueh, dun wan cos too cheap oso. said since we r frens for so long, i cannot be stingy, muz treat someting more exp. haiz... dunno wat evil deeds i did in previous life, tat's y now i had to have such fren... still say long time fren, so bu ke qi and ask for such exp meal ah!!!! argh~!!!! take a look at where we went and wat we order and u will noe y i regret liao....

we went to Pasta de Waraku @ Marina Square...

ordered 2 set meals and some sides... so here is the appetizer for the set meal. salad (sauce very salty) and the very creamy sweet corn soup (nicee....)

Prawn Gratin... the prawn is very very fresh and very Q. haha...

forget wat is the name of tis pizza. but is quite nice and the crust is so thin..

both of us dunno wat is tis so we ordered and try. is some potato and seafood pancake. dun ask me wat seafood cos we can't figure out wat seafood there r after we finished all. we tasted sotong, shrimp, maybe fish.. :D conclusion is tat for every mouthful, the seaweed muz be included. cos the salty taste of the seafood can enhance the taste of the whole pancake. yeah~!!!

jun's order of ham and cabbage with tomato creamy sauce. the sauce tasted kinda diff from the usual pasta tomato sauce

chicken and egg with wafu sauce... not too bad. 1st time eat spagetti with scrambled eggs ah... hahaha..

a table full of FOOD!!! damn full after tat ah...

see the total bill? noe y i regret liao? so broke liao still muz treat him. haiz.. poor me ah!!!!

well, so even when i was FULL, when he said to treat me Ben & Jerry's ice cream, i straightaway agreed! hahaha... after a short walk to Suntec, managed to generate some space for yummy ice cream. heehee... & we saw pretty Jas ohhh... is her bday ah so she was out for celebration with someone special la. hahaha... tink Jun will expect some story telling abt ur dinner yesterday on Sat ah... u prepare urself la... tat Mr KPO wun let u off if u dun say something.

so for now, i dun owe u anything liao, Jun! dun keep grumbling liao ah... as for my rest of Spice gang, i am being forced to treat him. not tat i am being unfair hor.. hahaha...

*Japanese Food Marathon*

Japanese Food for 3 days in a row... woooo... is kinda overwhelming for my stomach but luckily i tried different dish at different restaurant. well, 3 very different restaurants @ 3 different location.

on Wednesday, i met up with Chee Wei and Jenny for dinner @ AMK. we went to Suki Sushi @ Broadway AMK (next to AMK hawker centre). it was Chee Wei's recommendation as he said the food is not too bad, worth trying. so there we r, headed to the restaurant and sat there for abt 1 hr before we start our dinner. well, Jenny was held up with work so we were being nice to wait for her. hahaha... anyway, the food was okay and the price is reasonable with a juz rite portion of food. & i tink is Chee Wei's lucky day ah.. haha.. he ordered a Soba set and he got a hot pot soup for FREE! we tot it was part of the Soba set so we din bother to ask. however when Jenny ordered the same set, hers came with NO soup. in the end, it was the waiter's mistake as he sent the soup to the wrong table. we got FREE soup! hahaha... no photos of the food taken as i din bring my camera out. :D

on Thursday, i went to the newly-open Shokudo Japanese Food Bazzar @ Raffles City with Shuwei and Junwei. i guess we went a bit early as there was no queue as expected. & before we went, we were told that Shokudo's food r not as yummy as it was expected to be. so me and jun got a bit worried ah. hahaha... r we gonna waste our money leh? hmmm...

while waiting for Shuwei, the dinner crowd started to come in and the place was slowly packed with pple. while waiting, me and jun decided to try something 1st. we went to walk around the place. is a concept which is same as Marche. there r a great variety of jap food which u can choose from. so after walking 1 round, we decided to settle on the Japanese Omelette. there r a few different types, so we went for Bacon and Cheese. After Shuwei came, we went to order our main dish and some side orders to share. even though i was really hungry by then (after waiting for abt 1 hr for Shuwei!), i still rem to take some photos of the yummilicious FOOD!!!! Here they r:

Bacon & Cheese Omelette!

i love it! cos the egg is thick and yummy! the taste is juz rite. i would love to try their Unagi Omelette the next time round. hahaha...

Sliced Beef Udon.. not too salty, not too blend. juz rite for me. beef is quite okay, tenderness is alright..

Shuwei had tis rice dish.. dun ask me the name. i forget liao! hahaha.. i tink is chicken and egg.. looks filling & yummy...

Jun had tis Mushroom and Vege Ramen... i tink tis dish very worth the price cos the ramen's portion is quite a lot!!!

Rosti!!! miss tis? hahaha... Marche's most popular dish...

Japanese 串烧...

i like tis very much too. the taste is yummy and it smell good. however, is kinda exp cos is abt $2.50 per stick

DESSERT!!! Waffle with Ice Cream...

how i miss tis... ever since A&W is no longer in Singapore, i really miss tis type of waffle...

seems tat i am not the only one who miss it.. see tis greedy pig here, can't wait to lick the ice cream... & he REALLY licked it lor!!!! argh~!!!!

hahaa... jun performing his usual skill of spreading the ice cream on waffle... long time no use, skill a bit rusty but still okay la... let's see the end product...

okay la... dun hiam liao.. quite evenly spread lor... whahaha...

our satisfied looks after a FULL dinner...

the surrounding... straight ahead is the stall tat sells Jap Pizza. is a very thin crust pizza and it looks kinda yummy but the price is kinda steep for such thin crust pizza...

the dessert stall... there is Ice Kachang BUT is abt $6.80 for a bowl of ice kachang! hahaha... with that price, i can eat at least 2 to 3 bowls at hawker centre!!!

the kimono tat was hanged on the wall for design purposes... there are abt 2 neo print machines in the middle of the restaurant. hahaha... someting tat triggered our memories on how neo print used to be one of our interests...

Overall experience was not too bad. this place is worthwhile trying out but really cannot go too often. surely will get broke easily. hahaha...

on Friday, I met Fiona for dinner @ Tonkichi Restaurant @ Taka. hmm... it was a place recommended by Jun. after going thru the menu, 2 of us were very gian to try all ah. hahaha...

Ume Shu (梅酒)...

i had a sip of it. hmm.. taste a bit sweet, a bit bitter.. not too bad!

greedy Fiona wanna try all type of food they had so she ordered tis Yokubari Set (Deep Fried Oysters, Prawns, Crab Croquette & Pork Fillet)... wooo...

mine was Prawn Fry & Hire Katsu Mori (Deep Fried Prawn & Pork Fillet)... their pork fillet is quite tender actually and the pork is quite fresh... nice...

Jun said Tonkichi is famous for their fried pork fillet. really live up to their name... heehee.... & the queue outside the restaurant is quite a long one... at least 20mins wait i would tink. haha...

after dinner, we decided to head for some desserts. woohoo~!!! my fav mango stick rice, i really miss it so so much... so we went to Thai Express @ Paragon for our desserts. haha.. juz for desserts only!!!

Reb Rubies & Coconut Ice Cream... yummy!!!

Mango Sticky Rice... Ohhh... i really miss it so so much...