Melbourne墨尔本 - Hoiser Lane & Night View

Halo everyone! I know, I know I didn't blog since July. When things started to pile up, I was lazy to blog; when I felt like blogging, my laptop broke down.. My laptop was in ICU for 2 weeks and it cost $170 USD for screen replacement ONLY. I know it's pricey, but what to do I love my laptop and it still serves me well. So, finally, I have a very nice laptop screen :) I feel so much comfortable using my laptop to blog. "House Cleaning" checked!

Wohoo~ I am so excited to share with you my Australia Trip during July. I seriously left my heart behind at all those lovely places. The memories are vividly on my mind. Maybe some of you might visit Australia one day and hope all these great stuffs helps you along the way.

Melbourne City 

Transportation: Train, Tram, the easiest way is to walk and enjoy the city.

Accommodation: 

Malaysia Hall, the BEST place to stay if you are on a budget trip ($AUS 6/ night) .

Great spacious bedroom with two twin size beds, heater provided ( no worries on winter days) and nice bathroom. It basically looks like a classy hotel room which I had never think of.

http://www.msda.org.au/malaysia-hall/about-malaysia-hall-melbourne/malaysia-hall-melbourne/

Weather: 

It was Winter and the weather was around 3 -15 degree Celsius. Sunny days throughout the week. 

Food:  

Budget food: You can find Sushi Rolls everywhere. Costs ~$AUS2.50/ each (with a variety of choices) I love "Tower Sushi" at the Flinders Street Station which I passed by almost every morning. They are freshly made and I love the vegetable version which has pickle vegetables in it.

Throughout the trip, special thanks to my photographer (bro): Kai Zhe Yeu 

Without him, I won't have all these memories kept.

Day 1 
1# Hoiser Lane.

The lane with all the colorful graffiti.

#2 Yara River 

Romantic walk along the river at night and enjoy the great night scenery of Melbourne City. We spend about 1 hour strolling in the cold winter night. syok !

Art of Museum Melbourne

Federation Square

Flinders Street Station 

I slept at 8:00 pm on the first day- relaxed relaxed relaxed... Too tired after the flight... 

Stay tune. More to come ! 

Penang Hill Trip

Penang Hill is definitely a must visit place when you have friends from other places. The last time I went was in the year 2011. After 2 years, it is very disappointing that there are still insufficient parking lots even in weekdays. We park in the residence area which I am sure the residence will be unhappy. Hope this matter will be resolved quickly as I can't imagine the traffic problem during weekends. However, the train is now in great condition with  air conditioned and clean. We managed to grab the first cabin of the train and enjoy the great scenery. The weather is good too with some breeze.
P.S. The train ticket for student is only RM4.

The delicious kacang putih with onion and curry powder! Sedap ~

I even try this!! 

Once, I used to talk about henna during public speaking class. So, I decided to give it a try although it was quite $$ = RM 15 You might never know about henna. Here's a brief explanation form Wikipedia: Henna is a flowering plant, also refers to the dye prepared from the plant, used to dye skin, hair, fingernails. There are lots of design for you to choose from. I choose to have butterfly and flowers. The henna is good in quality and can be there for 3 weeks. After 5 minutes, with no pain, I got my first body art henna tattoo!!

Visit Penang Hill, You will love it. 

Tataz. 

Victoria Rossa English Tea Room

Halo. Victoria Rossa: a great place to go with a girl friend of yours for an English afternoon tea. The tea room has flowery walls and white decoration items, spacious and contains some private rooms that are suitable for bigger gathering.  The space makes you feel more comfortable chit chatting with your friend and spend more time over there. 

We had a pot of tea (RM12) from the Victorian English Tea Collection (I can't recall what tea we had; omg, I really have poor memory) and a blueberry scone. The tea is special and I like the flavor of it, it tastes minty (Really minty) and has quite a number of different flower teas in combination with it. We notice that the other teas have cinnamon bark which I personally dislike strong flavor of cinnamon. (If you like to order the same pot of tea like what we had, you might like to show the picture of the tea pot I captured below.) I think that different teas come with different colors of tea pots. The scone tasted OK, which made me a bit disappointed as it was too brittle when you cut it. You might like to try other desserts and food items. They looks good !

People there are nice and with a smile. The highlight of The Tea Room is it prepares a small little basket for you to put on your belongings, a very nice space for your handbag. 

So, Victoria Rossa English Tea Room is your next stop for a lovely afternoon time. 

No.33, Jalan Irrawaddi, 10050 Penang, Malaysia

Bussiness Hour : 11am - 10pm

( Tuesday Closed )

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoria-Rossa-English-Tea-Room-Penang/286851771436898

Do forgive my tan skin color :(

Perhentian Island

Yippy! My family and I traveled balik kampung  :) I am grateful to meet my grandparents at Bedal Villa, Kampung Bedal, Krai, Kelantan.  Besides spending time at kampung, we decided to go to the beach. It has been quite a long time since the last family vacation at Cameron Highland in 2011. Woo~ time really flies fast. This makes me even enjoy the family time! We departed early in the morning and arrived at Pulau Perhentian Jeti (Kuala Besut, Terengganu) after one and half hour.
P.S. writing in a way of primary school essay hehe.

Travel tips:

Boat ticket charge is fixed (RM70/ person), you can choose from any company you like and they will then send you to the resort that you had booked
Marine park fee is fixed too. (RM5/ person)

We stayed at Flora Bay Resort Family Room (RM 185- CHEAP CHEAP and no any extra charge/ room)- spacious, 2 queen beds with a balcony (good to have balcony to hang wet clothes)
Snorkeling trip at 5 points around perhentian island (RM45 including life jacket, snorkelling equipment)
In front of our chalet, there is a long sandy beach :)
Canoe trip for an hour (RM15/ boat (3 people in a boat, include life jacket) )
Flora Bay foods are good with reasonable price compared to taxi point but their drinks are expensive (Rmb to bring your own drinks). I think that Malay food is the safest, best choice to order: nasi goreng kampung (RM 8) tastes good.
So not necessary to follow a package, if you like to be free and easy ~ enjoy the beach during the afternoon all  by yourself cause many people are joining package and go out for snorkeling at that time.

Not to forget, when you are on the way back using Alternatives to Kota Bahru, you will spot a lot of stalls selling keropok lekor. you definitely need to give them a try. Piala Keropok lekor is the one we had and they really taste good. Keropok lekor is made of fish and molded into a long dough.

Now enjoy our photos!
Photo credits : Bro Kai Zhe Yeu

I really love all the photos!!

Simple, nice, relaxing, love, family :)
Tataz.

Wesak Day Celebration

Halo. It's our family tradition to join the wesak day float procession. On the 24th of May 2013, Friday night  the procession started from the Bukit Mertajam Buddhist Association 大山脚佛学会. It was a blissful night with lots of devotees following the float with prayers and spectators along the streets of Bukit Mertajam.

The float procession took about 3 hours and I am proud to say that our family joined it for the whole session. We basically had walked through most of the landmarks of Bukit Mertajam. (from Taman Sungai Rambai to the town area, Kim Sen school, Jalan Song Ban Kheng) Although I sweat all the way and tired, I am glad that I am able to be with Buddha on this special evening. I recalled that when I was young, I felt exhausted and like giving up on halfway, but my mummy will then tell us that never give up and we can do it with a determined heart. It's true ! We never fail to reach the finishing point.

I saw smiles on people's faces when we finally finish the procession. Everyone is happy and blessed. ^ ^ Not to forget, we did bathe the Buddha to remove all our five impurities and ignorance.
Once again, Happy Wesak Day.

P.S. 卫塞节是纪念佛陀【诞生、成道、涅槃】的节日。 今天我们一起来浴佛，称念"南無大本師釋迦牟尼佛"圣号，感恩佛陀的教诲。
Check out some of the photos.

One of the float 

Buddha under the Bodhi Tree

BM Buddhist Association Float

Purple Kekwa 

Dad and mum praying "amitabha"

Devotees flowing the float

Little Bro- Yik and I 

Happy Wesak Day !

To have more updates from Bukit Mertajam Buddhist Association:
https://www.facebook.com/bmbuddhist?fref=ts

Tataz.

First Pair of Wedges

Halo. I am excited about writing this post. Hehe. Since it's my very first time experience, my very very first.... pair of high heels ( then only I know that it should be called as wedges) You might know  that I am actually a tall girl (168cm). Ok, not really super tall but tall. So I had never think of buying a pair of heels that make me look even taller. I used to think that I look like an ostrich or a giraffe with a pair of heels. I will just stand out among the crowds. Seriously, too tall will make me look awkwards. But for now, I don't really care. Hahaz.. I like how  high heels lengthen my legs and make them look thinner and slimmer. Wohoo! I think most of the girls love heels because of that.

So, I decide to get my first pair of heels! I start to shop around the states, but seriously I can't find one that suit me well because most of the heels over there have super high heels, mostly likely 4 to 5 inch. I don't want to fall and have a bad experience of wearing heels.  I just looked around, tried on and didn't get any.

Last Saturday, when I accompany my mummy to get her pair of heels, I was lucky enough  to find my pair of wedges. I love the beige color, the strap on the ankle, the curve of it, and the peep toe. It might not be perfect beauty but I think it suits me for now..

The challenge starts after getting it. I need to learn how to walk. Oh my god, it seems easy, but to walk in an elegant way on a  super straight line is HARD. I get some walking tips through Youtube: 1. walk from heels to toes on smooth surface, on the other hand, walk from toes to heels on rough surface like grass and also walk downstairs. I tried using heels to toe and it eases my walk. So, if you are a newbie try using these ways!

My lovely first pair of wedges:

ignore the toe  and left leg with bruise (i don't even know who accidentally step on me)

Will update this post when I am wearing it to a dinner. Hehe. Stand out among others, being at least 172 cm. 

Tataz. ^ ^