Walking from the past into the present...

This is the first day trip organized by MRS which is so near to Clayton. So, the journey was unsurprisingly short.

Our first stop was Old Melbourne Gaol. As Charmaine said, it is pronounced as ‘jail’, not ‘ga-ol’…lol…

I think we spent more time taking photos out on the lawn and the graffiti wall than actually reading the stuff in the gaol because the artificial lawn was so spectacular!



RMIT actually uses part of the old gaol as university buildings. After much detour, we finally got into the jail and got to learn about the famous villains in Melbourne’s history. Among the notorious one are Ned Kelly and Harry Power—proud bushrangers and robbers.

In the gaol...



This was taken just outside of the old city court!

Since it was a self-guided tour, it was really an accidental discovery for us to get into the Police Watch House afterwards. Little did we know that we were going to be arrested as criminals and locked in the jail in dark without bail for a night. The Sergeant in charge acted so compellingly real that everyone, in my opinion, felt a bit intimidated with the use of coarse language and humour. Nevertheless, it was an unusual experience. For your information, I was Saomi who resisted arrest during a demonstration for that half an hour tour. And we even got to take a mug shot!

After a relaxing lunch at our much beloved Hungry Jacks, we proceeded to Eureka Skydeck. On the way up in the lift, I felt as if I was in KL tower’s lift all over again. If it was not because of the discounted entrance fee, we would not have opted to go there in the first place but we certainly did not regret. The view was awesome!

Ryan and I with Melbourne city in the background...

There were also some telescope + kaleidoscope which focused on certain landmarks in Melbourne CBD. I would love to stay for the night view but we decided to leave anyway to shop a bit at Melbourne Central. Coincidentally, Ryan, Jessica and me each bought a long sleeve shirt in Giordano.

When we rushed back to the halls, we were just in time to join Naveen for his farewell BBQ. Of course, there was more than enough booze and ciggie to go around but I only drank a cup of cocktail. Little did I know the liquor was quite strong and I did become funny afterwards.Now I know my limit. But that was another story altogether. We did have good food such as pork, beef and chicken with pita bread. Naveen told ud he actually bought 18kg of meat and invited all Deakinians left in the hall.

And yesterday night, we had Sally, Chau Wang and Yu Wan over for dinner. Everyone enjoyed Malaysian curry with roti canai and Sally's pumpkin pie and of course, her ghost stories :( !

A trip back to the nature II: Pictures say it all

All of us at Puffing Billy...
From left(Front row): Calvin, Siaw Tze, Ling Sing, Stef, Chean Ying, Jessica, Li Ping
(Back row): Ryan, Zhi Han, Nooi Hoay and me!

Doesn't this look as if we were in Japan???

In the 'Forbidden Forest' near Hodgwarts...

The emo me at various train stations of Puffing Billy

Oops...wrong direction from the other photos...lol...

Jess took this just before she went after the arriving train and caught Ryan with the train!

Exactly the same pose as the last one..lol...

Hmm...What Sheryl's mom said is so true...

Poll: Malaysian taxis among worst in world
Readers of The Expat magazine, which has a monthly circulation of 6,000 copies, gave the Malaysian taxi service a big thumbs down when compared with services in 22 other countries.

In fact, local taxis scored the lowest in almost every category polled. The survey's 200-odd respondents, comprising expatriates from 30 countries, even went so far as to brand local cabbies "a national disgrace", "a source of national shame" and "a serious threat to tourists - rude bullies and extortionists".

The most frequent complaint was of overcharging and taxi drivers refusing to take passengers who did not agree to pay a flat rate much higher than the regular fare.

The survey covered five main aspects, namely taxi quality, courtesy of drivers, availability on the street, availability by phone and driver job knowledge.

On a 10-point scale, local taxis got scores of 3.8, 4.4, 4.4, 4.8 and 5.5 for each respective aspect. This was in sharp contrast to the 8.6, 8.0, 8.1, 8.8 and 8.7 earned by taxi drivers in Singapore.

Expat Group CEO Andy Davison, whose company owns The Expat, said the high response rate combined with the absence of any really positive feedback, makes it clear people are unhappy with the current services on offer.

"In the last 10 years, we have done about 40 surveys among the resident expatriate community on many aspects of life in Malaysia.

"Most have produced very positive results, but our first survey on the taxi service has revealed a very negative picture," he said yesterday.

On suggestions on how to improve the image of local taxi drivers, Davison said that fares should be high enough that drivers would not feel the need to overcharge in order to make a living.

He also said driver training was an area that could be improved on.

When asked to comment, Taxi Operators Association chairman Datuk Aslah Abdullah said he couldn't deny the findings of the survey.

"However, you also need to check what the fares are in the other countries being compared, because that's where the problem here lies."

On training, he said drivers had undergone tutorials conducted by City Hall and taxi associations since the beginning of this year.

Folks, there you have it. Let's hear from you, the users of taxis, on the findings of the survey. Talk Back!

A trip back to the nature

Initially, I did not really feel like going out today. But since my holiday is so short, I decided to have fun! We went to Mt. Dandenong. The journey there was not smooth though. We missed the first bus but luckily we did get on time for the train. Then, we saw another bus passed by in front of our very eyes! And you can ask Li Ping how ‘difficult’ the journey was.

Nevertheless, we had a genial time at Skyhigh Mt Dandenong Observatory. Despite the gale, the bird’s eye view of Geelong to Dandenong Ranges made the trip worthy. We could even roughly see the outline of Monash University with naked eye! The scenery in the garden was also quite breathtaking. Afterwards, we had a brief stroll along the Forest Walk. Unlike the typical rainforest found in Malaysia, the canopy is actually quite sparse and rays of sunlight could reach the dry forest floor. Of course, we took a lot of photos!

Afterwards, Ryan suggested us to go for a ride on the famous Puffing Billy steam train. We discussed about this during breakfast and he just quickly printed out bus and train timetables online as a backup plan. The journey there was quite exhilarating. The road was so windy that I nearly puked! For an hour trip, the concession ticket was quite expensive. But the view along the way was spectacular! I did not expect to see Port Philip Bay at all. When the train was on the famous Trestle Bridge, there were even drivers who stopped by and took our photos. I even managed to took a photo with vineyards in the background. The train operators also kindly showed us the coal-fuelled train engine. We went all the way up from Belgrave to Emerald and the wind was growing in force and speed.

And we just could not stop having fun! For dinner, we visited Korean BBQ in Clayton since Siaw Tze was craving for Korean food. We ordered BBQ chicken, pork, beef and octopus. And the waiter even fried rice on the hot plate! Everyone was already famished so the food was finished in a second.

Only then we headed back home and I had a really nice hot shower!

Happy 21st Nooi Hoay!!!

Hey my dear neighbour,

I am sure you did enjoy the celebration yesterday even though it was meant to be a surprise :)
I am so glad that you like the carrot cake...and hope you enjoy the book too...

Sorry for not being able to join you guys yesterday....I am feeling much better today!

Welcome to the 'Being 21'club!

Stay cute :p



Send this eCard !

Craig Hassed

Now I truly believe in his words.

"Stress can reduce immunity, " Craig Hassed said

I feel so off now...sniffing...

So much for the start of the holiday...

Post exam activity

Life has definitely taken a 180 degree change today.

After the terrible exam this evening, Sheryl, Jessica, Lin, Ryan and I decided against touching any medical stuff.

We enjoyed a sumptous dinner with Sheryl's mom and grandma at Kota Raya.

Afterwards, Sheryl's mom insisted her to have some young-people-only time with us. We spent half an hour deciding on where to de-stress. Lin said passionately, "Lets go to the Knots!"
Sheryl even suggested us to go horse-riding at 9ish?!?! It's a pity that Luna Park is only open during the weekend...We almost ended up going to karaoke...

Hmm...

But... we spent our time blasting music in Lin's room! We sang so much till my throat hurt but it was till our heart's content :)

Afterwards, Jessica and Sheryl tool turns to play piano.
What a productive post exam relaxation!

What should I do during the holiday?
I just do not want to worry about my result for the time being...seriously the exams are getting tougher...

Holiday comes FIRST!!!!