Life has been too planned... For the regular urbanite, time is always scheduled, packed till the bream.. where's the time for spontaneity? Decided to lay my foot down.. let time roll along...yeah..

When you don't plan anything, anything can happen. This makes life more rich.. Rich in experiences, appreciation, well.. yar.. that sort of thing. Went from one museum to the next, and just went wherever we wanted to go.. it was fun..even relaxing..

Had the chance to go to the museums in SG. yeah u bet.. SG.. surprisingly, there are nice things to see.. All modern and interesting concepts.. Perhaps some photos shld do the trick..

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Here's a photo of a three story high statue of Michaelangelo's David looking emasculated in pink embroidered fabric. All about the female gaze.

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Also went for Xu beihong's chinese ink and western paintings. The same person can be drawn in two different ways. Gradually appreciating why Chinese art implies outlines and shapes without drawing them in while western oil paintings has every detail. One subject, but two different ways of looking at it, expressing views. Makes me appreciate Chinese ink painting even more. What is implied is what is never drawn, but only the watchful eyes can see them.

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Getting all worked up over a round moon. It really does look like a light bulb that lights up the sky. Had lotsa great food .. in the end cannot finish.. Hmm.. can you tell which photo of the lantern has flash in it?

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Went for a trip to Balmain East via the ferry at Darling Harbour. It's a quaint neighbourhood where people are so contented to just rest and relax. People taking dogs out on walks, to cafes and parks. Heritage runs deep with homes and buildings reflecting the anglo-saxon roots. Also took some photos with my honorary cousin, Dale and friend, Dina.  ok... here are the photos:

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Thought the lighting was good for geometrical shapes so took this above photo. Had some voyeuristic streak in me to take some photos of them taking photos too   :P

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This is the old colgate-palmolive factory that is now a set of luxury apartments. And some aspects of it..

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Cooking is therapeutic. It helps to relieve stress from assignments, readings, and other stuff.. Check out the photos below:

Cindy's chicken soup and rice

Had a wonderful chicken rice at my friend's place. So wanted to try also. Instead of half-steam and half boiled chicken.. well it turn out to be chicken soup instead.. But the rice is really chicken rice..hehe! Ganbatte!

Bought my pyrex bowl from IKEA at Rhodes and immediately set out on some baking..Check out the photos below

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Baked salmon with corn, celery and carrots and the IKEA cream sauce for salmon! The bowl was too full and I couldn't bake the potatos.. so in the end .. asked Eugene (not pictured here) to fry into french fries..Many thanks to Wen Yun for her hard work in de-scaling the salmon..Me?.. I marinate the salmon with the spices....

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This is another version with extra morrocan and paprika spices and other veggies..Hehe..

Was so gian about baking pasta that I did it over the weekend..

Just placed into oven

Cathelin and I added lotsa capsicum, mushroom, sausages and mixed with the pasta and sauce and look at the amount of mozarella and parmesum! The anticipation is worth waiting for..hehehe..hungry...

Pasta is baked!

Inside the pasta

Baked pasta and salad

Cathelin made this grapefruit salad with rocketts leaves and balsamic vinegar...taste good! Help came from Darren (not pictured here) who sliced the grapefruit :)

Eating pasta and salad

Had to eat it!! Shared it with some friends... Too much already.. Still had leftovers after that..

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Really love admiring God's creation. Altho' didn't manage to get close to the whales, was just so happy to see them in the wild. Couldn't decide then whether to just stop taking photos and just admire them or not. So here are some shots..There were actually two whales venturing off Sydney's waters from 6 plus am. Took the boat out at 9am and gotta see them around 11plus am..Definitely worth the wait! It was drizzling a bit.. hence the cloudy skies..

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Tail and Fin

A vessel was also following the whales..

Following the whale

A whale of a time.. splashing around :)

Big splash

Heads up

Somehow wish I was working for National Geographic!

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It was bliss at the aroma festival.. the efferverscence of coffee beans floating through the streets.. crowds thronging through the tents of coffee going at $1 per cup.. not to mention the cupcakes that were mouth-watering and looked too good to be eaten!

At Aroma Festival

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Well.. we wanted to down 10 shots but ended up with 5 shots (4 machiatos and 1 caffe latte for me). Was quite 'high' after that.. There's the fair share of good and bad coffee.. the bad ones kinda reminds me of what my Japanese teacher says: 'in-stan-to ko-hi' (aka instant coffee)...

Crowds

Here's a shot of friends...

Group

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Well.. trying to make my life a little better in Sydney...so went to the blue mountains with friends and also showed my NTU friend, Rosana around Sydney..Blue mountains was extremely cold in winter..between -1 degrees celsius to about 4 degrees celsius. We had to wear many layers of clothing.. it was just too cold..

Trooping around Blue Mt

At the hotel

But we had great DIY hot chocolate..something like Max Brennar's at the esplanade..just pour milk and put in chocolate chips into the glass which is heated with a candle..and voila..yummy hot chocolate..

Enjoying hot chocolate with Cathelin

As we had limited time.. I asked the hotel staff about choosing between Gordon Falls or Leura Cascades to visit.. well she was saying that Gordon Falls was grander.. so we went and saw quite a small waterfall.. but Leura Cascades was a better sight to see..

Leura Cascade

And we visited Leura Mall as well..Quite quaint :)

Leura Mall

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"Ah Yee! (aka.. Auntie) " exclaimed my niece almost every morning when she wakes up and knock on my room door.. Ah.. she's my alarm clock and hee.. my one and only cute and precocious niece!

The minute I came home, she was talking non-stop to me. Follow me everywhere..from my room to the kitchen to the dining area to the hall...etc.. Not complaining at all.. Funny how time flies and how kids grow up so fast..sob..

okay.. recently was given the task of baby sitting her for two days.. hmm.. makes me realise mothers deserved to be praised!! Here's the schedule:

8.30am    Wake up.. play with niece.. must let her win board game, card game, jigsaw puzzle...etc and let her follow u everywhere...

11.30am    Feed her.. .. must persuade her to eat some of the food..

Watch Spiderman 1 (lol).. I've lost count of the 5Ws and 1H that I've learnt in media class..that was utilised by her: "Why spiderman did not wear his costume?" "What did the bad guy do?" "How did he become spiderman?" "Where did spiderman go" .. etc and lost count of how many answers I gave...

1.00pm   Read story book to her before naptime..(and special request for more stories)

2pluspm    Wake up.. cry for mummy.....oh no... hmm sorry.. this Ah Yee.. no matter what.. is not a mummy.. That's when the real mummy started to rescue her with a phonecall...

Kudos to all mothers out there and a prequel to friends who wants to be mothers.. Nothing can replace this love in a child's heart and in a child's life later on.

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Ok.. here's the scoop on steamboat..

Two rice cookers

500g of Arabic prawns..

3 cans of chicken stock

2 big bowls of veggies

Tofu

Chicken

Pork

..etc

hmm must really emphasis the crunchiness of the arabic prawns.. worth every penny..Altho it's more expensive than the normal thai prawns sold at the paddy's market.. it's more sedap!!

"maybe it's eaten petrol.. that's why more crunchy!" a fren says..

And my frens who painstakingly cut the liver..need 3 persons leh..

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Another photo to go along with it..

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That's all folks! In the mundanities of life.. One can still derive simple pleasures such as good times with frens ;P

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Yeah.. I know .. it's time to blog again... Hadn't been quite up to speed with this coz i intended tis to be a travelogue..Yeah.. it's been a noisy hostel with crazy parties (not by me :P) held.. Trouble is..walls are kinda thin... any 'boom boom' from stereos.. not too mention the overzealous party troopers will send me to go 'urgh'.. and i wld pop my head outta my nice comfortable cave and see who are the crazy fellas..hmmm...

did i ever tell u guys i saw some ppl dressed with make-up and partywear to go from one room to the next for parties..all on the same floor...  all in the name of fun i presume..One time I went to the kitchen to cook and person D (hmm .. let's just leave tis person as D) whom i gotta acquainted with, asked me ....

D: What do you do to unwind?

C: Well..let's see.. go out with friends, swim.... watch movies.. makan sessions, travel..or just stay in and watch shows.."

D: that's so boring....don't u party? You dunno what u r missing.."

C: Depends on what u term as 'fun'

Haiz... why do most of the ppl i come into contact with always talk about party and assumes that all young people party ..  that's a terrible generalization...   so sianz.. it's the worst place to hold a conversation, deafens ur ears, so 'foggy', air is thin.. yar.. u bet.. "fresh air is thin".. and monotonous..it's the same scene all the time.. 

I can think of so many things that are much more fun than this.. To each her or his own lah :P .. Check out my paintball photos..it's a game of battlefield.. yar we literally went into forests zones to protect territories, shoot paintballs and get splattered with paint..quite painful..the bruises last for days..no wonder it's called paintball...get it? but on the whole it's really fun... full of action.. and at least pple dun get stuck in one tiny spot to jump around all the time..get it?

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Alrighty.. tune in for more posts.. after i finish all my heavy assignments..sigh...

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