US and Japan pals
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Boas-vindas


Da Belleza

Jasmine Ling
25oct1986.
Pretty.Ugly.Flabby.Blurr.Cheerful.
Speed.Travel.Sleep.Eat.Enjoy.
Deep.Fierce.Daring.Loud.Noisy.


Check this out!!!



Lusts 2010

Europe.
New Zealand.
South America.
Mauritius.
Egypt.

US
Maryland-Baltimore.
Washington-Seattle.
Utah.
Pennsylvania-Philadelphia.
Oregon.
Texas-Houston.

Australia
Brisbane.
Cairns.
Christmas Island.
Darwin.
Perth.
Melbourne.
Sydney.
Queensland.
Canberra.

Asia
Maldives.
Korea.
Japan.
Taiwan.
China.
India.
Philippines.
Nikoi Island.
Lombok Gilis.
Bali.
Phuket.

Malaysia
Perhentian.
Sipadan.
Redang.
Langkawi.
Terengganu.
Pulau Rawa.
Pulau Pemanggil.
Sibu Island.
Kota Kinabalu.
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Powered Pleasure Craft Driving License.
Wakeboarding.
DSLR.
Shades.
Facial regimen set.
UV protective face cream.
LV Tambour Diving Lady Watch.
Volkswagen Beetle
Remove all keloids on me.

Royals

Jie²
Amylia
WanPing
Mr Ng
Sandie WeiFen
Lai Yi
Jeremy

Pass it On!
sgtravelcafe
Riverkids Project
ASIAN GEOgraphic
Stanley William Moore
The Bitter Stickgirl

Of Yesterday
Looking back at 2011, Looking forward to 2012
You will always be in our heart
Western Australia Trip (Part 1)
The month of FEB in 2010
Fall in love again...
My 1st Bonus!
2009 Christmas Trip to KL, 2010 New Year Countdown...
Say "Hi" to 2010
7-16 Nov 09 Hong Kong, Macau & Zhu Hai
My Happie 23rd Birthday
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February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
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July 2009
August 2009
October 2009
November 2009
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January 2010
March 2010
May 2010
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January 2012

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Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Western Australia Trip (Part 1)

9-day leave APPROVED! Western Australia journey starts as of 26 March to 11 April =)

Simon and I had decided on WA as our destination as Perth was the cheapest "non-asian" city to fly to and they have great diving spots too! I had initially wanted Great Barrier Reef and Ayers Rocks really badly but decided to give them a miss and travel within our budget. Simon had also offered to be the one to pay for all expenses on this trip as a gift plus to fulfill his promise of bringing me on an all-expenses-covered-by-him trip. Greatly appreciated =)

Something different this time:



1) I decided to take Tiger instead of SQ - $400nett VS $720nett per tix. Which will you choose? Some will probably take SQ for comfort as it is a 5-hr flight plus there are extra perks like food and in-flight entertainment but for me, I thought we could have better spent the extra charge on something else e.g. car rental or good food.
2) I backpacked instead of the usual trolley-luggage travel so I can move around easily and save on check-in cost too! (Tiger check-in is an extra $15-$25) Yeah I know it's cheap but we had to do a budget travel this time as Simon is paying for everything which wasn't easy for him.


Day 0
I left work in the afternoon to catch my 3.50pm flight at Budget Terminal. It was a total mad rush as I had to hand over many work matters and issues while I am away for 2 weeks! We got there slightly early and had time for a meal at Mac before boarding.

5 hours of compressed air is no joking matter! Hence the need to care for my face =) I was comfortably lying down occupying 2 seats as the flight was pretty empty!



We reached Perth International Airport at night, approximately 9pm and took a cab to our host, Ken's house in Kewdale. It was merely the beginning of our holidays in Australia and we experienced 1st-hand of what everyone has been warning us about --- discrimination. Our cab driver was trying to navigate on his GPS to get us to the correct house and stopped by the roadside to double-check the road sign. It was really dark as there weren't any street lights and really quiet. Suddenly, a car from behind starting honking and drove pass us shouting vulgarities at the cab driver with his middle finger pointed at him. We were pretty shocked as I never had such explicit experience before, even after months of travel in US. The driver, who is from Iran, explained that it was very common here and all he have to do is to "be fierce back" to let them know that he's not a good target for bully. We were glad that we made it safely to Ken's house and what was in for us was a comfortable double bed in a private room!


Day 1

Ken brought us to the mall in the morning so we could buy some groceries. Totally felt like US again with the big billboards and spacious parking lots. One thing we realised was that in Perth, it was common to park head-in, while we usually do reverse parking in Singapore - maybe it's to fully utilise the spacious lot. We were on our own to explore Perth after getting home, the good thing was that there was a bus stop right in front of Ken's house which makes it really convenient! TransPerth has a unique way of charging fares hence it requires some understanding to fully comprehend how to get the best fare for your public transport. We did on some occasions foolishly paid much much more than we should =( I must say Perth's public transport is very well-planned with timetables of bus routes clearly printed with simple maps and quite affordable. However, it would be good if the frequency can be improved and they can operate until a later time. Do you know that their last bus/train on weekends ends at 6 or 7 pm? This means that you can forget about going out if you don't own your own vehicle!



We had arranged to meet Angeline at Fremantle hence took a bus to Burswood to take a train down to Perth before changing to another train line further to Fre0 (that's what Australians call it). Lunch at Gino's, although yummy, didn't come cheap - 2 plates of pastas shared among 4 of us cost a whopping AUD42! We were warned that food in Perth is really expensive, which explains why many people cook and eat-in most of the time! It may also be due to the fact that everywhere in Perth closes at 5pm(especially on weekends)?



After lunch, we walked around Fremantle market and bought fresh grapes and an organic choco doughnut! Damn good! We visited the tourist spots such as the Fremantle prison and hopped on the free CATS bus to visit the Fremantle chocolate factory! Love the free choco tasting =P



Next up was to Shipwreck Galleries, the usual kind of museum visit except that this time round, we were not looking at red indian tools and history. They had fairly interesting sea-related equipments, mostly recovered from the sea with divers going deep into the waters to retrieve them. The day was exceptionally cold and windy hence we decided to have early dinner to seek shelter from the harsh winds. It doesn't help that all of us were in summer clothes! Angeline and Kelvin said it was an unusual day as it was usually very warm.

Anyhow, dinner was decided to be Fremantle's habour-famous Cicerella's Fish & Chips! As we were still very full from late lunch, we bought one portion to share among the 4 of us! Excitingly, I went to order but was taken aback when they told me that tartar sauce will be charged at AUD1.80!? I always thought that condiments are FREE?



We ended the day missing our bus and hiding at Esplanade busport to seek warmth for an hour plus before boarding the last bus 39 home to Kewdale. The suburbs were totally pitch dark at night and it was so easy to miss our stop if not for the friendly bus driver who will inform us when we are suppose to alight! I cannot imagine if we had missed this last bus or our bus stop!


Day 2

It was a blessing that bus 39 extends its service to King's Park on Sundays hence we decided to visit the park with a family rider pass which only cost AUD8.80 for up to 7 pax with unlimited rides on TransPerth services. Good deal right? A family-friendly pass for big groups travelling on weekends or public and school holidays! Perth's King's Park is New York's Central Park equivalent! It overlooks the city and is a nice place for jogging or picnic.



Next up to Cottesloe Beach! Nice beach with many kite surfers doing really cool stunts but it was so chilly that I didn't dare to take a dip. There were so many seagulls around and they were really huge in size - that of my head? One of them even came very close to my hip (refer to photo below), probably to pick up scraps of chips we dropped.



We ended the day with Mc Donald's family meal as dinner (refer to photo below). It was the most value-for-money meal for 4 pax plus one of the very few restaurants opened at 5.30pm that day. Yes we were searching for a decent place to have dinner at 5pm but not many places were opened. As usual, we were charged for requesting for extra sauce. I mean how can we enjoy nuggets w/o sauce?


Day 3

A healthy holiday starts with light jogging at Tomato Lake near Ken's house. The breakfast & Mac dinner photos was taken the day before. Breakfast for us were usually toast and milk we bought from the shops. One interesting fact I found out was that our host stored his bread in the freezer and toast them only when he wants to eat them. Many others (Angeline does that too) also do that to preserve their bread for a longer time (as long as weeks!) as a loaf of bread is quite big. I miss freshly baked bread...



We explored the city of Perth and took the short ferry ride over to South Perth. Did you know that Coke in Perth cost AUD3plus per can? We were so glad to find AUD1 Mountain Dew at Esplanade Busport!



There were loads of interesting shops with nice designs at South Perth. We also went for Outlet Shopping at Habour Town and got myself a pair of shades and pumps =) Good Buy!




Food, especially good ones, plays a paramount role in our holiday. Lunch was at Red Rooster, a fast food chain which is only found in Australia. I love Red Rooster's fries! They taste like seasoned chips, very yummy!

Later in the evening, our 2nd CS host, Elise and Russ, picked us from Ken's house and brought us to their nice house in Bassendean. We once again got a private room with double bed (refer to photo below) and even have our own toilet and bathroom! We took one last photo with Ken and his beloved bike before leaving. He is an avid biker and a very adventurous/active man - skydived more than 600 times!

Elise and Russ introduced us to Alfred's Kitchen which Simon and I totally LOVE!!! They serve really good burgers and there is a fire place where you can sit around to keep warm while you dig into your meal. Elise and Russ also brought us to see King's Park as they wanted us to feel the difference when we are there in the morning and at night. It's nice to just relax on the grass patch and see the twinkling stars.




Day 4

We took a train to Perth City the next morning to pick up our rental car. It was supposed to be from Baywater but their service was really bad hence we changed to car2000. We had a reservation with Bayswater (I think we paid an online deposit too!) and they told us that they ran out of GPS when we were there to collect our car. Instead of offering us an alternative, they simply snapped at us with a "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude without any trail of remorse at all! Do they even know what customer service means? We can be bothered as we do not want to ruin our holidays and paid a cancellation fee of AUD10 to shut them off. Car2000, located right opposite Bayswater was a whole load better! Their staff offered us additional maps in case the GPS go bonkers and gave us a wire to plug in our ipods for music during roadtrips!

We headed straight to Caversham Wildlife Park right after. It's a highly recommended place to go if you would like to have close interaction with animals. Check out our kangaroo-feeding photos below =)



Ahahaha I hear your laughter... Now you know why people always say 马脸? The gums and the jaw is really hilarious! The pig and little lambs are really cute too! Check out the retired camel farm owner sign.



The Molly's Farm Show is a good way for city dwellers like myself to know more about farm work. They demonstrated the use of whip to crack, swinging of pail for tea and herding dog at work. There was even a "live" demo of how a sheep is sheared! In case you are wondering why I was touching the freshly sheared sheep, I was frantically trying to gain cosmetic benefits from it! We were told that Lanolin, a natural oil found in the sheep's fleece and produced when sheeps are sheared to keep their body moisturised, is the main ingredient used in women's expensive beauty products. So how can I miss out on this bargain =) for FREE? Haha and I also got a chance to milk a cow for the 1st time in my whole life!





My 2 funny encounter with animals: The cow pee-ed rightaway when Simon tried to milk it! So funny, it was as though he squeezed the wrong part =P The deer was poo-ing as it was walking away from me and I thought its waste look very much like hershey's chocolate kisses =X



It's rare for city dwellers like us to be in close contact with animals hence I just have to play with them for a while more! The furry bear-seal-like grey creature is called a wombat. It's really cute and lazy but Russ told us that there was a recent news report abotu a wombat attacking a camper as he accidentally stepped on it when getting off his vehicle. It was so unbelievable as wombats are know to be mellow...



After Caversham Wildlife Park, we headed to Swan Valley for some wine & cheese and chocolate tasting. Love all of them! When we got home, Elise and Russ were so nice to have prepared BBQ dinner for us which included Kangaroo steak... Yummy =P It's lean and fat-free!




Day 5

A day trip to a nice town called Kalamunda in Perth's Hill and its surroundings. There was so much to see! We drove up the hill and through the zigzag road which we were told that they sometimes hold racing events there. We visited the interesting bee farm where I finally understood how honey is harvested. We also visited the beautiful lake and the important dam. One of the most interesting sight was the bibbulum track which stretches from Kalamunda (Perth Hills) to Albany (South Coast), nearly 1000km long!



The town had an evening market (equivalent of our pasar malam) going on that day and we returned to Perth after taking a walk. Dinner was with our host at a Chinese resturant as there was a CS gathering.




Day 6

Hilary Habour was a good place for tanning and a dip. It's a mystery how they can keep the waters so clear even though it's a docking port for all the yatch! We did many jetty jumps and also took many lonely-planet alike photos at the fabulous beach next to it! Since we had the luxury of driving, we took the scenic route along the beach all the way to Frementale and ended the day with Fish & Chips at Kaili's - wanted to compare which is nicer at Freo Habour!