Friday, May 22, 2009

day 13 - last day in Perth

This day marks the last day of my travel in Australia.
Like the day I spent in Freo, today was spent alone. I took the train to Cottlestoe, and walked the whole stretch of sandy beach...
Intrigued by the surfers along the beach, I stopped every once in a while, enjoying the carefree moment of the surfers having fun.
while walking to the beach...

still trying to walk to the beach from the train station... taking longer than I thought!

shadow picture again! (my shadow is the only one that walks besides me , ha ha ha)

cafe by the beach. how sweet!

im there! savouring the moment of the surfers doing their stuff!

barefooted, the sandy beach, im standing on nature. the feeling is great!!

long stretch of the beach

cafe overlooking the beach. dreamy!

self potrait!

Walking along the beach, there are rows and rows of houses overlooking the sea, then I thought, how nice it would be if i could own a house by the beach. to have nature stand at your feet....

After walking for such a long distance, I am famished! Took a bus (yes, I am so formidable. Walking along and managed to find a bus back to perth city. ha ha i am so smart!)

My favourite vietnamese restaurant!
my favourite vietnamese dish! BO LUI! (NO MONEY!) actually its skewered beef and spice and white wine. Shioks! Bo Lui let me Lao nuah!

they have laksa too.

a short walk before we leave Perth





I would like to spend my lazy afternoons like this too!
the clean, good 4 stars hostel - billabong resort! thumbs up!





my last meal in Aussie! Red Rooster!

Aussie, Aussie, when can I see you again!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Day 12 - Another rainy day

Woke up to pelting rain against the window panes..
Rain again!
Deciding that the rain will not faze us, the girls made our way to a park near Sydney CBD....



war memorial



"lest we forget" the resurrection of such 'tombs', do they aim to educate and remind the next generations to come, that violence is not the way to solve... conflicts?


nice shot taken, if only u can view it in its full size!

they watched too many indian movies.


travellers...

self entertainment

some bottle tree dunno plucked from where.. sorry im not a naturalist type of person..

several tracks were closed due to landslides due to heavy rain


self entertainment again

swan river!

by the bottle tree

flowers (are a girl's best friend)

3 monkeys bar at night

Afrternote:
Have you in your growing up years felt like you stuck out like a sore thumb? Or maybe,an oddity, the odd one out...?
Sometimes such things happen as they make you aware of certain qualities in you that you thought didn't exist.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Day 11 - Perth was raining, so was my heart.





And the mystery is solved. Billabong resort really IS GOOD, cos it was clean and clean and clean. I swear I am no clean freak, but the pillows were well sunned, bedspreads were clean, and most importantly, no BEDBUGS!!

the gals were obviously happy.

We settled out to Fremantle this morning, after sleeping till, gasp! 11am! Considering we slept like 4++am that day!


taking the subway to fremantle...only takes half an hour!

ET and her psych friends, and yes, I was the ODDITY. ANOMALY, whatever you call that.

inconsiderate singaporeans #1

inconsiderate singaporean #2

cheeky + inconsiderate singaporean #3

Reaching fremantle, the wind was gushing till the trees machiam want to fly away already.....
Deciding that we had different agendas at fremantle, I broke away from the team and went exploring Fremantle on my own.

I took the CAT, and went to the sights I wanted to see -
their bus stops very 有特色!




Then I went to the Maritime Museum. It exhibits the wreakage found from shipwreaks within this area...


Then I went to the Indian ocean beach


Then I went to E-Shed! to buy souvenirs and macademia nuts!
And went to another museum




Then I walked around Fremantle, being a carefree, happy tourists... didn't need to care about time, didn't need to care for anything in the world!




Some backpackers hostel, very vibrant feel to it. I wonder if theres bedbugs!

Church, taken from side


same church, but taken from front. Notice how the hue of colours differs!! Amazing!






My lunch. Pasta in Aussie is no joke man. GOOD AH! Broccoli and chicken penne.










When they say that Fremantle is a culturally rich place, they weren't kidding. I really enjoyed my (lone) walk, snapping pictures, doing touristy stuffs.


Then i went to fremantle market.

Cos It was endless rain during the time I was shopping in Fremantle Market.... I spent the rest of my afternoon holed up in the Fremantle Market Bar


Musicians playing at the bar (well, buskers, actually. They dun get paid, their royalties comes from the customers' 'donations')
I stayed for a good 3+ hours, had the chance to see about... 4 different group of performers.. Had Champagne and Wine..... endlessly! Chilled and thought. Think and Drank....

One glaring thought that floated thru my mind incessantly was....
being a musician has always been a dream of mine..
Going to concerts (and such) reaffirmed my interest in music.
But life is always a stage of balance. You can't have the pie and eat it.
The harsh reality soon dawned on me. How am I gonna feed myself, and my family, and repay my debts if I become a musician. A musician in my country is CMI, unless u are syz, jj, cjy, etc.
No offense if I didnt mention your "favourite local act"
And I watched the movie, August Rush the other time. In it, Robin williams said, " If you wanna be a musician, you gotta love it, you gotta make it your first love. even without food you must love making music. even without a good place to live in, you must love making music. music has to be your first love".
I was reminded of this scene at the pub. Can I stomach eating bread crumbs to seek my aspiration as a musician? Can I stomach not being able to buy nice clothes to make music? Can I overcome the guilt of not being able to contribute to the family so as to make music.

I'm sorry for myself, for all the above mentioned, I can't do that. Yes I love music. I love Chopin.I love listening to his etudes. I love running my fingers through the notes. I like Paganini. I like Bach. I like listening to pop acts. I love Cheer zeh zeh. I adore what they've done, and what they are doing. I would like to be like them, but I can't.
Simple fact.I am not that talented. And I can't bear myself to give up my earthly luxuries to pursue music (well thats assuming that if i wanna pursue music, i gotta give up my stable income, and the road to music is very 坎坷啦)
Right smack at the middle of the bar.I told myself. Music is a hobby. As of now. What I need is money.

Heavy stuffs aside, dinner was at this totally cannot make it "best fish n chips in the world" eatery. Give me a break. I had fallen prey to marketing tactics. Shame on me!


Enroute back, we bought a cake for the bday gals!
birthday gals!!

and we spent the night playing piano n singing! (billabong resort rocks!!)