Movie World!!!!!

We stepped foot in Warner Brother's Movie World last Saturday, 22 June 2006. It was good timing, we had friends, sister and cousin having fun in the theme park located in the Gold Coast!

First stop - Superman Escapes! Me and my sis chicken out, while the rest of the guys strut up to the queue. We had good reasons to back out. The ride reaches 100m in 2 seconds, on top of that there was a virtually 90 degree drop! And because of that, we girls became the "carer of bags" coz if not, it'll be raining bags, wallets, handphones, keys, sunglasses, specs, sweets, cash, coins etc etc...












The brave souls that survived the 90 degree free fall....





The bag carer and the boy who wished he was tall enough to experience the free fall and brag to his friends at school afterwards....

Theme parks can be cruel.....



There's also a new exhibit on Esmo's favourite movie - The Matrix... Too bad there isn't a ride whereby they can suck you into a roller coaster ride through a public telephone...












Then the guys went on another thrilling ride - Lethal Weapon, where your feet hangs loose and you go through a 360 degrees loop. Did we girls get on any roller coaster rides? Yes we did, Scooby Doo no less... Too bad we couldn't take any pictures coz it was in a building, dark, some drops and lots of sharp turns.













And after all these adrenalin rush, we all went cuckoo for a while....






























After an exhilarating day, we split and D, Esmo, Sis and I headed out for Surfer's Paradise for some dinner. But before we could get to our grubs, we stopped by to play a little mini golf.

We pitted it out at King Tut's and the losers had to treat everybody to dinner.













The food (Thai) was nice and we had a very fulfilling dinner.

Life in the Sunshine State....

Sunshine State a.k.a. Queensland. To be exact, I'm currently in Brisbane ~ the Great South East!


This is home, a 3 bedroom townhouse in a suburb called Runcorn, 30 minutes away from the Gold Coast.

We're sharing this with two other housemates, our friends from SG and HK.



We've even got our own pets! (it came with the house...)







Lizzy, is the blue tongue lizard who resides between the rocks in our backyard. It'll come out to bask itself in the sun when she's cold.

Peewee is the bird who is lonely and is always trying to "date" his friend in the rear view mirror.

Our room was recently furnished with our bedroom set which we bought from a furniture store. And in true blue Chinese fashion, we were both assembling our bed a la "an chuang".













Lucky it's not that hard to assemble!

And the end result is:









Pretty?

We liked it. It's a lot more sturdier (also a lot more heavier) and we hope it will last at least 10 years? haha..

And I've got a new toy! It's a gift from my hubby (as promised during on our big day.. haha).




A Nokia 6280 in burnt orange colour!

Our 2nd trip to the land of smiles.....

Yes, our second trip to Bangkok in less than 6 months. You might think that we must be nuts to go to the same place twice in a year, much less in less than 6 months. But we need to fulfil our promise to the Brahma God of the Erawan Shrine. What's more, we didn't get to do any shopping the last time we were there. Hence, this trip out to the land of smiles....

Though this was meant to be a shopping trip, we still manage to cram some sight seeing into it. We went to the Siam Discovery Centre where they housed Bangkok's underwater world. Mind you, this attraction is not somewhere off the city or near a lagoon or beach. It's smack right in the middle of the city! Pity we didn't get to take a photo of its exterior coz it was raining. But it was worth going. It's surprisingly big, new and well maintained. Except for all commentaries delivered in Thai, the place is superb!

Another place that we managed to visit was the Safari World. It's a day tour and we had to travel about 40 minutes out of Bangkok. The Safari is good and except for the idiotic bus driver who's very keen to move off (as if the tigers and lions is after him) and not allowing us to take pictures as we'd love to. Still, thanks to my 10x optical zoom camera, i still get to have some pretty good shots.






We saw a lot of animals. There were giraffes, zebras, wilderbeast, rhinos, ostriches, bisons, impalas, deers, pelicans, storks, grizzly bears, sun bears, tigers, lionesses etc etc. I was so excited that I was practically jumping up and down my seat snapping away with my camera!

There's also live demonstration of lion and tiger feedings. How do the Thai people feed their cats? I'll show you...

This just makes me wonder. What would happen if the tiger decides to pee on top of the cage? Also, in a safari, it's the humans that are in cages. So technically, the animals are looking at parades of humans? haha....

I had also managed to feed a tiger when I was in Bangkok. It's at the Marine Park next to Safari World. There were no cage between me and the tiger mind you! It was so exciting and exhillarating!

What did I tell you? I fed the tiger right? I fed him his milk! haha...

Don't underestimate the cub. It's actually quite heavy, and his paws are very strong. Fortunately for me, the rangers had cut away the sharp ends of his claws, so they were all blunt.

It cost 80 baht to feed the cub and take some photos.

And my hubby was the one who's peddling the business.. haha...

Business was hard. One particular group of tourist insisted on having a discount. They were only offering 40 baht! And this particular group tries to discount everything, right down to the Koi feed of 10baht!

The peddler (not my hubby) was so mad with them that she refuses to sell them the feed and walked off in a huff! I mean, come on! Just take it that you are buying some food for the animals and paying to maintain them and the park! It's not much. You won't even get to look at a tiger in Australia with 80 baht!

There were a lot of Indian tourist there. In fact, apart from 2 of us and another two from Oman, the remaining 8 of our day tour group are from India. The park was filled with them so much so that the management decided to play some Indian music, much to their delight. And spontaneously, they stood up at the auditorium and danced! It was such a sight.....

We also saw for the first time - Belugas! They were not exactly very nice / pretty creatures. But they are unique and very cute! I'd have loved to be on stage and kiss their slippery lips! There were two Taiwanese girls who went up and were "forced" to be kissed! haha..

One thing however, the polar bear looked a little pathetic. You'll get what i mean when you see this...

I don't think it's sick. I think the bear may have some form of skin condition or have moss growing all over its body that's why it looks greenish black. It was frolicking around coming to the glass when he sees visitors and sniffing for food closer to his feeding time of 2.10pm.

And I'm sure my hubby will remember this little fellow.

Why? Because this tapir claims my hubby as part of his assets. Why? Because this tapir had marked his territory on Esmo.

Ha ha haa.... You should have seen the look on Esmo's face. It was so hillarious!

After our day tour to the Safari, our first stop was MBK centre.

The mega shopping centre, 7 floors in all, that occupied our whole 1.5 days in Bangkok and resulted in our burst budget. We literally shopped till we dropped. By the end of our trip, our bed was full of our purchases.

Not contented with our purchases at MBK, we continued with the Suan Lum night bazaar! That's where Esmo bought his "England" shoes...

Bangkok is a very nice place to travel. The Thais have their own culture, unique in this world. They are friendly and they'll tell you "I love Farang" a.k.a. "I love foreigners". (Who wouldn't when the foreigners bring money? Well, except for the lot that tries to bargain products / purchases of 10 baht). So if you are planning a trip with no destination in mind yet, why not Bangkok? I know I wouldn't mind going there again - make it a hat trick. 3 trips in 12 months... haha....

(FYI, during our last trip, we went to the Grand Palace, Temple of the Dawn, the old capital - Ayutthaya, Bang Pa In (Summer Palace), Floating Market, Snake Farm, and of course the "Ah Qua" Cabaret show. We still have some places to cover namely the museum, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha as well as a trip to the River Kwai.)

P/S: Apologies to everybody. I'm backdating my blog coz I didn't have the time to update it as it happens. We were to occupied with our wedding as well as our move down under. Still, better late than never right?

Until our next post, see ya and take care!

.... (yawn!!!!)..........

Looking back on our BIG day....

18 June 2006 - The day my hubby and I were inducted "customarily" into our respective families, the day where our ancestors, extended families and friends acknowledged that there are new additions to both families.

As predicted, the bride didn't get much sleep the previous night, partly because she was a little worried and nervous but most of all it was because of the "goal!!!" shouts coming up from Clarke Quay. Soccer fans were so enthutiastic that they stayed up the whole Saturday night to cheer on their favourite teams. Believe me, you can hear them very clearly way up on the 17th floor.

Bright (actually it wasn't even day break yet) and early on 18 June 2006, the bride woke up and started with the make-up and dressing. Then, the arrivals of her bridemaids and finally the photographer and videographers. Lucky we took the suite! Otherwise, we wouldn't have enough room to accommodate so many people! (you will see what i mean later on....)

The groom arrived around 9.30am to fetch his beautiful bride. And to his worst nightmare, he got to buy his way through to his bride (twice no less!), gulp down pure mashed papaya with milk and show his musculineness by doing push ups.

Look at him!!! The poor thing.... Taking papaya is so difficult for him, imagine if it were fish extracts? I think he'd rather not take his bride!!! haha... Fortunately, "papaya milkshake" happen to be one of his best buddies' favourite drink. So the lad lapped it all up with pleasure and gusto.....

After all those hassles, the groom finally got to his bride. As usual, we have to take shots after shots of "kisses". But what's "abnormal" is that they made my parents do the same!!! haha... So it's a rare sight but we're all happy about it and took it all with grace and good nature.

Group photo of the bride and her family, bridemaids, groom's buddies and welcoming committee...

14 + 2 (cameraman and videographer) + 8 relatives = 24

All crammed up in the suite!!!

Then, the couple and their entourage left for the groom's place in Toa Payoh. Midway through the journey, the bride suddenly remembers about the roast pork, oranges and pants! The groom frantically called all 3 following cars to check. Thanks to Stuart and Cindy, we didn't have to make a detour.

After paying respects to the elders and tea ceremony, the couple was served "Sweet Soup" containing the usual "zhao sheng gui zi" ingredients as well as a hard boiled egg which is required to be broken into two pieces with one stroke of the spoon. Mind you, it takes skills to do it, otherwise, you'd see a flying egg! Wouldn't that be a sight! haha...

After a light lunch, the couple left for their own home in Simei. We took more photos, the bride changed into the traditional "Kua" and prepared to leave for the hotel to catch some sleep before the banquet in the evening!

The photographer was thrilled to be greeted by a cross (St. George's cross = England's flag) in the dining hall. We all took turns with the flag. (However, as the World Cup saga unfolds, England was ousted by Portugal - much to majority's guess. )

Fortunately, we were all able to catch a little nap before the banquet begins.

We had very good guests. They started arriving around 7pm and the banquet managed to start around 8.20pm (and ended around 10.30pm). Early for Singapore standards, which usually starts around 9pm and ends at 11pm. Things went by with a whirl and before we know it, the whole banquet was over even with two march-ins, 1 slide show, speech by the couple and photo taking sessions. Thanks to all our helpers, things went smoothly without any hitches. No pressure on the couple at all...

It was a very beautiful day, a perfect night, a memorable event which we will remember for the rest of our lives.

We couldn't have done it without:

And of course, not forgetting:

THANK YOU!!!

You've made our day.

Left the lions for the roos....

29 June 2006 9.20pm - Left SG for AU on QF52, leaving behind my beloved family - with a very heavy heart.

Of course, most reactions would be "you don't have to go if you don't want this to happen", but one needs to look at our long term goals right?

It's irony coz up till now, i'm still thinking if we made the right decision, for ourselves, our family and future family. It's easy to just give everything up and just move back to above the equator, back to the lion city, close to my family.

I hope we have the strength to pursue our dreams and bring our families down under with us - in the near future.

Missing you all badly...