Anyway, life is full of challenges and we have to eat before facing these challenges… So 7 of us, zm, kelvin, zw, wx, kenny, wq and me, decided to have our lunch at a nearby, In between Maju camp and SIM University, famous restaurant “Union Chee Pow Kai”. The restaurant is famous for the “Chee Pow Kai”,paper wrapped chickcn, which indeed is yummy. The only praise I have is for the Chee Pow Kai… Below are some of the problem which we felt…

1. Price doesn’t match the quantities
   The price for our set meal, 6 person set meal, is $138, but the quantity is like for 4 people. 1 “Large” plate of fried rice for 7 people? It is only the same portion as I buy 2 packs of fried rice from other “zi char”. Too Little for us LAH! Ripped off !
2. Overcharged food item
   3 plates of pickles which cost $6.00.
   Vinegar pig legs: 3 piece of meat plus 1 egg for 7 of us? Daylight Robbery!
3. Basic food item doesn’t provide
   Have you ever patronage a chinese restaurant that doesn’t sell white rice? Union Farm restaurant is the ONE! We are forced to only buy fried rice!

Kampong style restaurant- Union Farm

Mushroom soup, fried rice, paper wrapped chicken,vinegar pig legs, fried squid, fried tofu, stir fried prawn, fried fish with sweet sauce, and dessert (cut orange with agar agar)

kenny, wx,wq trying their famous “chew pow kai”

If you are very rich and doesn’t feel like eating white rice, probably you can give it a try. As for me, it would be the first and last time there…

Share This

Chef Aw is finishing the Blueberry Cheese Cake

Yummy

My First Attempt

My New York Cheese Cake

2 days later at my grandmother’s home

Even though the surface of my New York Cheese Cake is slightly burn, the taste is still near perfect. “Near perfect” as there will alway be room for improvement

I would give myself 7/10 grade for my first attempt. hee. Next challenge will be either strawberry cheese cake or blueberry cheese cake which is much harder …

Share This

On the 2255 02 July 2008 , my nephew came to the world to bring joy to our family. It is actually quite unexpected as this baby angel supposes to come around end of July. But I guess he can’t wait to see us So cute and tiny. He is only 2.7 kg which is considered small for a newborn as the average weight is about 3.5 kg. However, most important that he is healthy.

My baby nephew is a deep sleeper, all he does is sleep (must be very tired yesterday). Eventhough, we are talking loudly,disturbing him and touching his cute cheek, he can still sleep through all the racket. Tomorrow he will be discharged and comes home with his mum (my sister-in-law) to our home. It will be a busy day tomorrow.

Share This

After the trip to Blue Mountain tour, we booked another one day tour to Canberra with the tour agency. The first stop we went to is Cockington Green Garden. As usual we are always limited by the time constraint… only 35 minutes to tour around Cockington Green Garden and the entrance fee is $15 per pax. Cockington Green Garden houses many different countries’ miniature landmarks and houses. With only 35 minutes, basically we are snapping the pictures as we walked past them. Too rush to really appreciate the miniatures. This is a place where visiting once is enough as there isn’t any thing interesting to see unless you are interested in the miniatures.

Lake Burley Griffin

Lake Burley Griffin and Us
Another short drive along the peaceful street of Canberra, we reach the second destination of the day, Lake Burley Griffin. A magnificent man-made lake and fountain. Under the influence of the hot sun and water spraying about 4 stories high, we can clearly see a  beautiful rainbow formed. We spent about 20 mins there and enjoy the scenary.

Parliament House

Parliament Conference Room I

Parliament Conference Room II

The last stop for our tour is the Parliament House. This is our first time visiting a country’s parliament house. We didn’t even go to Singapore’s parliament house.. Mmm.. Can we even go in? No Doubt! It is tight as all visitors have to go through the X-ray scanning before entering. A short 30 minutes tour in the parliament house is quite educational as our tour guide explained the history of Australia.

Share This

DFO

DFO

Then after a nice lunch, Uncle Jeff bring us to a Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) that is located in suburb. Inside DFO there are many branded stores that are giving discount up to 90%… Cheap? Ya some of them. We stay there about 2 hours and bought some clothings and shoes. Quite a good place for shopping There are other branches located in different part of Australia

 * Just got back from Melbourne and there is another DFO located at Melbourne, Southern Cross Station

Share This

Today our plan didn’t go well as we expected. We planned to go to Paddington Market at 10 am so we woke up around 8 am this morning to prepare. But in the end we still reached Paddington market around 12pm… To go to Paddington Market we have to board a bus, 378, at Central station and alight at Oxford Street which cost us $1.60 each. As usual transportation fee is very expensive.

Paddington Market

Devil Waffle $5.00

Paddington Store

Paddington Market is heavily publicize by Sydney Guide as it claims to be the biggest Market in Sydney with 250 stores… However… To our surprise it is not as big as claimed… Although there are some local artists and merchants selling their wares, it doesn’t have 250 stores at all. Furthermore, the things there are quite expensive. However, it is still worth visiting for a while as some of the stuff are unique and can only be found there. But don’t expect too much.

(Sat) Flemington Market

Next stop we went to Flemington Market to shop some souvenirs, but to our surprise today is “Fresh Food Day”. No souvenirs, only fresh food. Furthermore, its closes at 2.30pm… We only have 30 minutes to take a short tour and bought some strawberries. When its about time to close the market, the fruit and vegetables at really cheap!!!
Cheap as in 1 carton of apple only sells for $3.00! . We bought our strawberry at 3 boxes for $5.00 which is a bargain . But later we spot another stall selling at $1.00 per box. So Cheap

Then when we decide to leave the market, we saw a truck preparing to leave the market without even bother to load his cartons of tomatoes onto his truck and just drove off… Then this happen to the carton of tomatoes…

So wasteful…

Since it is still early,we went back to our favourite place, Paddy’s Market to shop around.

Back to 70s show

When the sunset, we took a train back home as my aunt wanted to bring us to Menai club to watch a show, Back to 70s. The show is quite nice and entertaining, even though i seldom listen to music…

Share This

Today we have many things to do and places to visit so we left home slightly earlier, and reach Martin Place around 11am. Actually we wanted to stop at Circular Quey station as it is nearer the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. However, Jane wanted to get some local stamps from the General Post Office so we alighted at Martin Place station.
(The stations in the city is much nicer and well managed then those in the suburbs)

General Post Office

From Martin Place station to General Post Office took us about 10 minutes to walk there. It is a nice short walk as we are admiring the resplendent buildings along the road. The General Post Office building encompasses not only the post office, but also many stores, restaurants and a hotel. So we went in and take a look of the stamp collection. The range of stamps displayed is quite limited so we approach the counter for assistance. Jane is quite excited to take a look of their stamp collection, but the person that assist us had spoiled our mood. She is very unfriendly and seem impatient help us. She would say the stamp types (animal, building, places etc) and expects us to only reply YES OR NO! What kind of customer service is this? I thought Australia is well-known for Human Right! We never see or touch the stamps and we are only allow to reply YES/NO! @#$% She even advice us to visit another post office at Market City which is 15 minutes walk from here. Finally we had enough of her attitude and approach another staff instead who is much more helpful. Jane got a few packs of stamp and a post card to send her then we make our way to Circular Quey.

Circular Quey Scenery

Another 15 minutes walk before reach Circular Quey. Luckily not all local are so ill-manner the lady in GPO so we managed to ask for direction. Circular Quey is another harbour of Sydney where you can get very nice sceneries and food. Circular Quey is where the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge are located and where you can go to the northern part of Sydney. There are cruises going to other places such as Tarogan Zoo Or Ocean Manly Park and etc. Furthermore , some cruises also provide lunch, dinner packages which you can enjoy the sceneries of Sydney while having a nice meal.

Opera House

Opera House and Us

Nothing beat the real Thing! OPERA HOUSE is so spectacular! We are totally amazed by the beauty of this magnificent structure and the beautiful sceneries. It is definitely a MUST visit attraction in Sydney. After we are satisfy with the photo taking, we went in to see the interior of the Opera house. Most of the places are off limit unless you buy a guide tour with them. So we went to the souvenir store to see whether we can buy anything to kept as a souvenir. Too bad they don’t sell opera house model …

GPS Map: Sydney Harbour Bridge

Beginning of the bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge Scenery

Northern part of the bridge

Next we decided to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, near the Rock. The Bridge is directly opposite of the Opera House so another 10 minutes to walk there. Walk across the bridge is something worth doing. It is about 15 minutes walk to cross the bridge to the northern part of Sydney. There are 3 ways to admire the scenery of the bridge, SKY Walk ($160+ AUD), Pylon Lookout ($9.50 AUD) or walking across the bridge (Free). At first, we decided to visit Pylon Lookout, however as we are short of time so we dropped the idea. It is also very nice just to walk across the bridge and enjoy the sceneries. On the bridge, the Opera House looks so small, but its beauty doesn’t diminish.

GPS Map: Luna Park

Luna Park (Northern part of Sydney)

Next destination, the Luna Park. The smiley icon of is so prominent that you can see it across the bridge. Luna Park is free to access, but you need pay for the rides. Maybe we came on Friday as the park seems deserted. It doesn’t seem fun to me so we walk around the park and took some pictures before going to our next destination.

Darling Harbour: Jordon’s Seafood

We are so beat that we took a train to Town hall instead of walking across the bridge again. +_+!. When we reach Darling harbour, we went to some of the agencies to find out the cruises’ meal packages as we are planning to go to one of them. Next we had the BEST Dinner at Jordon’s Seafood. The seafood is very fresh the presentation of the food is GOOD! Can’t describe it so if you going to Sydney remember to give it a try. Its worth the money !

To be Continue…

Share This

On the way to Market City

Market City

Paddy’s Market

With the help of my trusting Nokia N6110, we manage to find the shopping centre in ease. Phew~ (I’m quite bad in navigating) . 1st thing we do is find the tour agency and book another day trip to Canberra.

Paddy’s Market is located at the basement of Market City and it operating hour is Thur to Sun , 9am to 5 pm. We reach Market City at around 12 pm so we only left 5 hours of intensive shopping. My poor legs +_=!

Paddy’s Market is a must visit place for tourist as there are wide ranges of souvenirs and clothing to buy. The prices are much cheaper compare to other places. We almost buy all our souvenirs in the 1st store as they provide a comprehensive collection of souvenirs that are cheap. Luckily I stop Jane from buying all of them from the 1st store, else we can called it a day. haha. In Paddy’s Market most of the store owner are from different countries(Singapore, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong etc. ), there is only a few of them are local. It is quite different from the Rock Market. We spent more than AUD $100 in Paddy’s Market as buy many souvenirs to give our friends, families and ourselves. Another hole in the pocket +_+!

Capitol Square

Harry’s Cafe De Wheels

Hot Chilli dog with lots

Only 6 pm and it so dark =_=!

After the intensive 5 hours shopping, we planned to grab some bite at the Harry’s Cafe De Wheels. The cafe is located at Capitol Square across a street from Market City. The cafe’s hot dogs and pie are famous and are recommended by many of the tourists and the Sydney guide book so we give it a try. Mmm. A hot chilli dog with lot costs about AUD $7.00, quite expensive for a hot dog. It taste alright, doesn’t really impress us.

After having a snack, we walk around the nearby stores and Capitol Square before taking a train back to Sutherland where my aunt is waiting for us.

Capitol Square: nothing much there and there isn’t any toliet for public. Oh my God…

To be Continued

Share This

In order to explore some of the inaccessible places near Sydney, we booked a day tour which bring us to 3 places, Feather Wildlife Park($20 each), Blue Mountains ($28 each), Jenloan Caves ($23 each). The tour costs us about AUD $39 which only includes the coach bus. The admission fees and lunch are paid separately. So the total price should be $110 per adult, but luckily we have some coupons which is 1 for 1. Phew~ Save quite a bit on the admission fees. 1 things I hate about touring the attraction with a tour agency is that there is limited time to tour. However, it is convenient as the experienced tour guide would bring us around and save the trouble of finding our way.

You can book the tour package from Golden Wattle Travel Services located in Ground floor, Market City,( Chinese speaking tour guide).

Featherdale Wildlife Park

Standing Kangaroo

Lazing Kangaroos behind - Feeding wallaby

Kola Bear and Us

We gathered at Hurstview at 7.15am for the coach bus, before setting off to the city to pick up the rest of the tourists. The first stop we went to is the Featherdale Wildlife Park which is located at the suburb of Sydney(1 hour drive). We are only given 1 hour to explore the park so we didn’t manage to cover them all. We manage to take a lot of photos with the cute Kola Bear and feed some of the Kangaroos and Wallabies. The Kangaroos and Wallabies here look so freely and are comfortable with the human touching them. Furthermore, they seem to be well fed as most of them are lying on the ground sun tanning. Ignoring us and our foods. +_+!

Blue Mountain - Scenic World

Nokia GPS Map - Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain - The Three Sisters

The next stop we went to is the Blue Mountain, one of the famous attractions in Sydney. Another hour ride from Featherdale Wildlife Park before we reach Blue Mountain which is located at Katmoomba. As usual we are restricted with a hour to explore the Blue Mountain and take picture of the 3 sisters.

The 3 sisters Legend
“The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, ‘Meehni’, ‘Wimlah’ and Gunnedoo’ lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.” Extracted from Bluemountainaustralia

Jenolan Caves -Chifley Cave

Chifley Cave

Chifley Cave and Us

After having our lunch at the restaurant on the way to Jenolan Caves which cost us about $21.00 each. A simple 5 dishes plus a soup that is actually quite value for money as the food and drinks in Australia are very expensive. (Example:1bottle of coke is AUD $3.00)

There are about hundreds of caves in Jenloan, but only a few are open to the public. The tour included a 1 hour tour in one of the caves, Chifely Cave. The local tour guide bring us around the different parts of the cave and explain the forming and history of the cave. The interior of the cave is spectacular with the dim light just enough to bright up the room. The caves is mostly made up of limestones and in the inner part you can find some limestone transform into crystal, but too bad we could take some home as it is against the law.

To know more about the caves, you can visit this website Jenolancaves

Then we took a 3 hours ride from Jenolan Caves to Sydney and sleep through the journey back as we are exhausted from the trip.

PS: Forget to mention, the sun set in Australia is quite early about 5.30 pm and by 6pm it really dark.. Lesser time to shop +_=!

Share This

The 4th day in Sydney,but this is the first time we took a train from Hurstview to city, Town hall. In order to make full use of the time in city, we have stayed up late yesterday to plan for today’s itinerary.

Itinerary

1. Darling Harbour - Sydney Aquarium.
2. Star City Casino
3. Queen Victoria Building, QVB
4. Sydney Tower and OZ-Trek

After aligning at Town Hall Station, we are like most tourist, looking lost in an unfamiliar place. Looking left and Looking right for some Sign. Until I finally give up and ask the station staff which direction is heading the Darling Harbour. On the way there we just asked the people around us for direction just to ensure we are heading the right way.

Cockle Bay Wharf

Phew~ It take us about 15 mins to reach Darling Harbour. In Darling Harbour there are some attraction places such as the Cockle Bay Wharf, Imax Theater, Sydney Wildlife Park, Sydney Aquarium, Chinese Garden.

Sydney Aquarium

1st stop: Sydney Aquarium

The admission price is $29.50 for 1 adult. Luckily my aunts have some Sydney Attractions’ coupons which allow us to pay $29.50 for the prices for 2. Personally feel that the Sydney Aquarium doesn’t have much to offer as compared to Singapore Underwater World. The only thing worth seeing is the underwater aquarium where you can see the sharks and fishes roaming freely in the tank.

Star City Casino

2nd Stop: Star City Casino, across the Pyrmount Bridge

Next we planned to try our luck at the Star City Casino, hoping to win some money for shopping. The casino is quite generous in a way that they give free $10 to their new customer. So we happily try our luck at the jackpot machine. I lost all of them in 30 minutes. =_=! But Jane won 2000! …..

2000 Credits which is equivalent to AUD $40. Not bad compares to my losses.

Queen Victoria Building

The Grand Stair

Inside the QVB

3rd Stop: Queen Victoria Building

Queen Victoria Building is one of the Sydney’s important Victoria shopping arcades. Most of the stores are selling branded goods and nice souvenirs. It is a MUST visit place in Sydney!

Took earlier: Sydney Tower

Sydney Tower: Night Scenery

Last stop: Sydney Tower and OZ Trek

The last stop for today is the Sydney Tower and OZ Trek. Another MUST Attraction in Sydney ! With the bird eye view of the city and the OZ Trek movie is worth the admission fee.

Share This