Sydney Trip-Highlight Climb

Day 2

With my still aching legs from Mt Angsi,the days agenda was the Harbour Bridge Climb.Pumped with adrenaline,Jeremy and I navigated through Sydney to find ourselves at Circular Quay,where we got out first view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House before walking all the way to out starting point.
Got lost for a while,was under the bridge instead of inside.Found it..

Before we could start out climb,we had to put on a jumpsuit,like this one.It's suppose to camouflage us form the traffic below.On top of that,we had a carry belt,harness,fleece jacket,beanie/cap,hank and headset (uses bone conduction) to put on.Felt like i added a few kilos.
The climb took about 3 and a half hours,the view was amazingly breath taking and the weather was co-operating.360 view of Sydney with out guide Amanda pointing out the various attractions in general view.I was kind off disappointed that the climb wasn't that challenging though,it was just steps and it didn't go up that high.

The Rocks
Before we continued on

Next up was the Pillon Lookout.It has a surrounding glass panel which has markings corresponding to certain areas of Sydney.Pretty cool eh.
From the Pillon (rainbow in view)
The rest of the day was spent at Circular Quay amazing ourselves with the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and my futile attempts to take night scenes.Totally had to give that one up.

We had dinner at The Rocks at a place called Lowenbreau,famous for German food and it's self brewed beer.Sof and her friend joined us midway for the last session of catching up before flying off to NZ.

Jeremy and Gary with the crazy platter

After that Gary decided to bring us to a famous hangout place at the IVY Bar.Definitely very different from the other clubs that i've been to.Has a self themed garden with spiral stairs.How cool is that?No pics though..sorry, batteries died.Suffering from winter too i guess.

Sydney Trip- Jetlagged

Day 1

I was super excited about my trip to Sydney that i indecisively packed and repacked my luggage several times,just to make sure i had room for souvenirs.In the end,i just decided to bring along an extra backpack which proved to be quite useful.The flight there was uneventful although there were many Australians traveling back and making a buzz in the aircraft.I had 2 seats to myself,so that didn't really bother me(window seats i might add).

My first view of Sydney was at 6.30am.The areas was pretty dark,with white smoke from chimneys but the highways were well lit and there were already cars streaming down the lanes that early in the morning.As we came near to landing,I was able to experience sunrise and take in the magnificient view of a cliff.It was the best thing ever after 8 hours stuck in a flight.

Immigration was nerve racking due to the fact that i was brought in for questioning.Being a smart alec,i totally forgot to take down my friend's address,i'm pretty sure the officers were assuming i was secretly trying to become an illegal immigrant.After tonnes of questions regarding my motive there,what i planned to do,how much money i brought there,finally my saviour came in the form of an sms from Adelyn.Phew,alas i could leave.

Had my first McD Brekkie while waiting for a friend to arrive from Japan.Seriously Bacon and Egg is so yummy.My first impression of the trains, i was utterly appalled...they look er,filthy?But nevertheless what can i expect from a service which has been running for decades.All i can say is the Australian Transport System is super expensive even without the conversion.

Jeremy and I made our way to meet up with Daniel and Diana at Central Station.Which i was told was the heart of Sydney's transportation hub much like our KL Sentral(Hint: the name says it all).Our first stop was Dixon food court in Chinatown.Guess what my friends had? Malaysian Food.Hilarious.Okay maybe they have been away from M'sia for a tad too long.Fortunately i got to meet Sof too,more yakking and catching up was the order for the day.Since Jeremy and I were tired from out flight,we just decided to chill out the whole day at Gary's place (which we called home for 11 days).From the start,I could see we had a pattern of very laid back tourists.Hehe.

Uniquely Singapore/ JB

Due to technical difficulties, the Sydney entries will be delayed.Hehe.So as fillers i guess my short Singapore trip will have to do.

The occasion : My cousin's wedding in Johor
Side Goal : Catch up with friends before leaving Malaysia

Day 1 (19th July)


Arrived around noon in Singapore,since i couldn't contact my host.I called for a meet up with my friend instead,where else?Orchard Road ,since my mental map is only proficient around

shopping and tourist areas.It's been months since i last met Shu Hui and like always there has never been a meet up where there weren't weird things happening.This time it happened even before i met her,some random girl picked me off the streets and ask i could help do a health survey.Maybe i was the random girl ,not her is this case.Claims that it'll only take 5 minutes of my time and after asking a few questions she began to lead me into Takashimaya building.Being paranoid is not a bad thing at all at these times,when i asked ,she said her office is on the 18th floor and we need to go there to finish up.Rite....it was from that moment on that i started planning my escape route.It may be Takashimaya but 18th floor is way to dodgy for me.Manage to leave without creating a scene but definite with a long string of lies i must say.

The rest of the day went on better,met with Paul White too,a suprise as i didn't know he was there.I just love the sweet couple thought of willingness to travel anywhere for their other half.Awww

Paul And Shu.Anyway, more benefits for me as he did give me a short narrative of his home country,the scottish land.He was promoting the love for the 4 seasons but i doubt i'll be so receptive of the weather when i get there.

After meeting Ivy,she manage to convince me to join her in her church activity.So well not wanting to disrupt her plans i just went along.Boy was i in for a surprise,it wasn't really a church thing but more of a Youth Fellowship appreciation day.They called it Sister's Day.So all the female members of the fellowship were treated to a special intricately planned surprise along with their guest of course(me).It started off with a bottle of ribena then a foot treatment and it was the best i've ever had,not that i've had any.My feet felt as if it belonged to a baby,nice and soft.If you wanna try,just get this one the guys used for us.Guarantee you won't regret it.That wasn't all,they continued to amaze me with their performance and appreciation for their fellow sisters.No gathering can be complete without a meal so we went to a Prince Cafe which apparently was a hot hangout spot from back during their high school time.But my favourite was ice cream at the dessert place.yum yum.Forgive me for my undying love for ice cream.How can anyone not like it?

Despite only meeting Ivy's friends for a few hours,i genuinely felt that they were the nicest people around and i never felt an awkward moment with them.I would also like to thank Winson and Justin who were nice enough to chauffeur me around.

Day 2(20th July)
Met up with Shu Hui and Lay Ai accompanied by their other halves.We were suppose to hit the Marche breakfast buffet but somehow they didn't have it anymore.Super disappointing but we ate there nonetheless.
I Super Love this shot of us stuck in the spoon with evil fingers Lay Ai trying to squash us...To give them a piece of our mind,Shu started filling up the survey form.

Before leaving Vivo City...got a glimpse of Sentosa and the Star Cruise ..wish i could go there
Just to beat the causeway traffic, i kinda had to rush back to Jurong and pack up.Little did i know,there wasn't really much of a traffic on Sunday afternoon.Manage to get to the hotel with time to spare before the wedding dinner.I can barely remember the last time i attended a family gathering.That comes with studying all the way in KL.

Day 3(21st July)
I used to think that weddings were a bore when i was much younger but now equipped with a camera i have a whole new perspective.Most of my time was spent capturing memorable shots or trying to get out of the way of the official cameraman.All in all the ceremony was done and over with in half a day.I appreciated the fact that my cousin decided not to get one of those traditional lady's who would be screaming at the top of her voice announcing all the customary details.It might have proved to be a little chaotic but at least there was piece of mind to most of us.The trip back to kl proved to be the longest,spanning a whole of 7hours including the walk back form the petronas station.

Mt Angsi (5 July)

It all started on one weekend when someone suggested that we hiked a mountain.Who was it?I have no idea,i wasn't even there but word got around.And this supposed mountain starts with an A and sounds like Ang.The picture fell into place when i read an article promoting a Gunung Angsi in Negeri Sembilan in the Utusan newspaper courtesy of my previous job.Smses started making its way through networks and by friday night Ben,Prasad,Hui Lin and myself accompanied by Yew Wen were in Seremban.

We started saturday morning with an oily but delicious brekkie and then we're off to Kuala Pilah.
Apparently there was a race scheduled for that day itself,so we quickly made our way before the crowd started in.

The track started with an hour walk along the river with various obstacles mainly consisting huge fallen tree trunks which didn't deter us.After that it was uphill all the way.Along the way,i felt muscle tightening on my right leg.So as prevention i decided to place more strain on the left leg.Nevertheless, my plan backfired when i started cramping up along the way.

Paul administering first aid for my crampy quadriceps muscles.

A toilet break was in order since it was a long hike up but i didn't think we would have one in the shot.Oops...

After about nearly 3 hours,we finally made it to the top and needless to say i had both my legs in pain due to excess lactic acid.

The view was a sight for sore eyes but the area wasn't much to be desired.Not much was done to make it a lookout point,the only view was from a bush opening.

The most exciting part about the climb must have been the rope climbing and also the effort we took to abseil down again.I believe this is the first time i've ever been so injured in a single mountain hike.with skin scrapings and aching legs.I really underestimated that mountain,eventhough it's only 825M like 4 meters higher then Penang Hill it really deserves it's name.All in all it tooks us 6 hours for our expedition and we all came down satisfied.At least,it did give us the excuse to binge eat after that.

All the Way from Sydney

Currently in day 3 of Sydney trip.Won't go into details,save that for later but i would say i've noticed i'm probably the most laid back tourist on planet earth,spending hours on end on things i really like.And becoming more horizontally challenged as my diet starts to evolve into those of the Australians.Seriously...they eat a lot.And i mean a lot a lot.Winter weather is crazy cold but getting used to it too,haven't lost any fingers or toes to frostbite yet.I'm so glad i'm here before going over to Scotland.It serves as the best training ever while getting advice from friends on how to overcome the elements.Really i'm underprepared in everyway possible.Nevertheless every moment is worth it to the max.Looking forward to a whole day of natural fun tomorrow.Sleep time for now.

Last Day of Work

The day is over,it started just like any other day.Well not really since i woke up super early.Like Mustaqim said,i need to give my best.It was pretty quiet the whole morning but come the afternoon it was non-stop work,even until the last minute new request were piling up but how could i say no?More words were exchange then usual and farewell wishes flying.I really wish i could stay longer but it's time for new adventure.Seremban here we come.Guess what we're doing tomorrow?

Room for rent...Any takers?

Whoever thought it would be this difficult to rent out a room?I've been fussing about looking for potential takers for my vista apartment this last week.Since i'm working in the marketing department, my colleagues thought it would be convenient to lend me a hand by passing inquiries for rooms.Boy, were they wrong as i was to find out.

Most of them were parents instead of the students themselves,so okay naturally they would be more wary.But these people are overprotective, they bombarded me with questions from the condition of the room down to the very detailed profiles of my housemates (which i apparently know nothing of).Some even made very unrealistic request for me to get them the master bedroom.(for the sake of understanding,i stay in the middle single room and the master bedroom is inhabited by my two other working house mates).Nevertheless after having me answer all sorts of inquiries they always give me the same response "I will call you back some other time".If some other time meant they were giving me a confirmation,that would be fine,but no they just call to ask even more questions like "is the area safe?"For crying out loud,i only want to help my landlady find a tenant.I didn't know i would be sacrificing my nap time.Mental note,always specify which times these people can call you when giving out phone numbers.
Well instead of taking the active role of giving the first call, i have resorted to just leaving my number with Student Affairs in hope of better luck.Hey whatever it is, i don't think my phone will be ringing after the 6th of July.No more entertaining overbearing parents.

Tomorrow...last day of work.Farewell department lunch was today.Won't be seeing my supervisor tomorrow as she is on leave.For the first time,i actually feel that i will miss my seat in the marketing department.