I Heart Bright Bags

So i am still diverting on the "Day 3 in Melbourne" post and my car pictures aren't up yet. Working on it. You can tell how i am soooo very organized. Now for a more current post.

Yesterday for lunch we went to help this colleague of ours to do shopping for birthday present for the GF. Since he will be stuck in China for 2 weeks and won't be able to celebrate her birthday with her he has got to have some backup plans. So the item in mind was a wallet since hers was pretty old. And he got our resident fashion/retail consultant to assist him with finding his way in Pavillion which was just down the road from our office. I was just a tag along.

Anyways this post is not about the wallet which i can't find a picture of anyways. It is about me spotting a bag which just called out to me. I don't know what is it about me and bright colours, but i happen to be totally drawn to them. I might just be the grandmother wearing shocking pink top in the future, god forbid.

So we were in the DKNY shop looking for wallets because its one of the brand within his budget. And that was when i spotted this bag:


It was totally calling out to me. So i picked it up to check it out in the mirror. Now how i wish i was the kinda girl that can just whip out my credit card and sign for what ever which caught my eyes without needing to think. But not at the moment, i won't be able to burn rm 1.5K without blinking my eye. I hope i will be able to do that comfortably in the future though.

So yes after i picked it up look in the mirror and put it back i peeked in to look for the price tag and found that the bag cost rm 1500 plus. Its cheaper in USD though as usual. Yes i probably can find an almost similar design with a way cheaper price tag. And perhaps maybe i will keep an eye for one. One thing to complain about though is that the bag feel so heavy even before i dump anything inside. One of my pet peeves would be heavy bags. What is the point of lugging around something which is so heavy on its own. Not very functional.

Melbourne Day 3

Naturally the night before we girls talked and talked till we were too tired to talk and only fell asleep at 4 a.m. So sticking to the spirit of a slow and relaxing holiday we rested till 10 a.m before we got ourselves out of bed to get ready to leave for the city. This time i got smarter and i left my clothes hanging on the cubicle so that i could get dressed in the shower before getting out. Works so much better that way.

Finally it was time to get me acquainted to Melbourne city. The weather actually got colder compared to the day before. Rae suggested I'd better put on a long sleeved shirt under my dress and she loaned me her trench coat. The wind was pretty strong that day. And we walked all the way to the train station near her place. This was the first time i felt the cold cold wind of Melbourne blowing in my face. I decided i really liked the feeling. I might be a bit crazy and like torturing myself. But i much rather freeze to death than to be so very hot.

Because Sam took the car to work, we took the train to the city. Much like going to KL on a KTM. However, the train station was only 15 minutes walk from her house. And apparently all the public transport around Melbourne are linked and so you only need to pay once and utilize the bus, train and tram for a certain number of hours before needing to pay again. Well i still haven't figure out how that works. Trust me to be oblivious when there is someone there to depend on.

Our destination of the day is St Kilda where there is a beach and many breakfast place. We stopped at Southern Cross station if i am not mistaken, to take the tram to St. Kilda. By the time we were there it was already 1 pm and it was food time. No matter the time a good hearty breakfast is always welcome. We were suppose to have breakfast at this place Rae used to go to get breakfast when she was working nearby. But unfortunately it was no longer there. So we walked down the street to survey for another place to settle for. And we decided to go for this place which served all breakfast for AUD 11.

I happily ordered the most expensive breakkie on the menu. Not because i was kiasu but I wanted my baked beans, suasages, bacon and the works. And also for the sake of curiousity for their black pudding. When i saw it on the menu i had a hunch what it was but i asked the cute waiter what was in it anyways. And he confirmed it. It was made of coagulatted pigs blood, chickpeas and i forgot what not. And most importantly to go with the hearty breakfast on a cold day would be a nice warm glass of latte. My very first in Melbourne. It is said that Melbourne is Australia's capital of coffee culture and i was determined to have as many coffee i can get my hands on for my whole 7 days there.

here is me with my very first latte in Melbourne

don't it look absolutely yummy


Rae's Vegetarian breakkie

my awesome huge ass breakkie

After breakfast we walked to the St. Kilda beach and just spent time talking and doing more catching up about our lifes which we haven't been doing for such a long time. Soon evening fell and we waited for Sam to pick us up to go home.

Later that night Sam took us to a Vietnamese restaurant which serves great pho. I haven't really had pho before but blogging about it now my mouth is actually watering. And after that we went to Max Braner for hot chocolate. And that completes day 3

The Car is Here

The car is finally here after all the saving and hunting and mix decisions and delayed order. The waiting for the car to be in stock and the getting the number plate. The car is here! And boy is the feeling overwhelming. My very first brand new car. No pictures yet, because well it was overwhelming and I didn't manage to take any.

I took half a day off today to pick my car up. Its a good thing I did because the whole process ended at 5pm today. Super exhausted. And the bill of things spent on the car seems to be adding up. I paid extra for a safety tint. Maybe I might have gotten a little kiasu. But boy is owning a car expensive business. I do hope the spending will start to trickle down to less frequency and amount soon. Else I better start making more money soon.

I still can't believe I own a car now though. As in the car is mine all mine. My responsibility, my own to decorate and care for. I can do anything to it because it belongs to me kind of a thing. So I am now an official owner of a Myvi. Ok nope it hasn't fully hit me yet. I still haven't explored my car yet. But damn i am so not used to driving it yet. Need more practice.

The Weekends

So its week 2 back from Melbourne and I only have day 2 of Melbourne blog post up. Gosh i take forever to blog. But i think i've got to take a break from that and just blog a short entry about the present time. If not god knows how long will we be stuck in the past.

So its already Sunday night and its time to get back to work tomorrow. Surprisingly I am pretty happy, well rested and am not dreading to go back to work. Its been a while that i remember not dreading to go back to work. There have been a period of time when every end of the weekend leaves me feeling like it has eluded me too quickly and facing work the next day was just too much pain. Well i guess a round of holidays have done me good. Especially when within a month i went on 3. Left me pretty broke though. And when i usually anticipate with much eagerness the next public holiday, i don't seem to bat an eyelid on the coming one. But i am sure i will enjoy it non-the-less.

So lets start off by listing what i did not do during the weekend. I did not bake and i did not go to the gym as i have intended to. What i did was, sleep, sleep and sleep plus surfed the internet and watch a movie with boe. Today i woke up, went to dim sum with Michelle, Daphi and Kumar and proceeded to hang out with Michelle after that. We watched alien in the attic in IOI Mall and then after that went to Pyramid to pick up my book which i ordered.

Side story: The reason why i needed to pick up the book was because on the second night when i was at Rae's place, we switched room with Sam. But we forgot that my stuffs were in that room and i left the book which i borrowed from my colleague and my make-up bag on the luggage. Sam brought Coco their dog to sleep with him. When we finished chatting, Rae went back to her room and turned on the lights to the sight of Coco chewing on my make-up bag. According to her, the look in Coco's face was priceless. So there, the dog ate the book and its a true story. And a week after I left she proceeded to chew up a Gucci wallet. Expensive taste yo.

After that we were off to the IT centre for Michelle's stuff and there i laid eyes on something which i was longing to get previuosly. But the RM 300 price tag kinda put me off, seeing as to the fact that i just wanted it for fun. I wanted a drawing tablet to draw and paint on the computer. Dont ask me why. Its not like i have any professional use for it. I just kind of like the idea. So RM 300 is not justifiable. But i saw one for RM 199 and i started thinking. Ahbut the artsy fartsy me doesn't really gel with the engineer image. But as it is, I am broke so till more money starts pouring in it is going to have to wait.

Melbourne Day 2

The night before, i arrived late at night at 11 and we went back to Rae's place in Sunshine. When it was time to sleep, i felt so lethargic that i was worried i might fall ill. What with me not fully recovered and the whole flying and H1N1 scare. So i popped a panadol and went to sleep.

We woke up rise and shine at 9 a.m to get ready. And i got a feel of how bathing in Australia during the winter is like. Well being the first time, i left my clothes outside of the shower cubicle. I managed to get the shower nice and warm. But once i stepped out. *Shudders* the cold hit me. I got dressed real quick and rushed back into the nice warm room. Ah the wonders of heater.

After everyone got ready, Sam, Rae's fiance went to collect the Land Rover in which we were to travel in to Mornington Peninsula. We were to be joined by their friends Joyce and Ibs. And after we picked them up, off we went.

But first stop was to test drive a Honda Jazz which Rae was looking to purchase. The place was on the way to Mornington Peninsula. Which was a slightly long drive of perhaps 2 hrs to get to. On the drive there, I got to see all the different build of houses along the way. Its really nice to that each individual house has its own character and design. And it adds to the charm of Australia. Also we passed by the city and Rae pointed out the place where she used to stay, Crown Casino and her current work place to me. Then i also saw the sea side and it looked so beautiful.

Along the way Rae asked me again, what was my impression of Melbourne so far. And my answer was still freeways. It took a while for the fact that i was in Melbourne to sink in. I think my senses are getting slower and slower as i grow.

So when we were waiting for Rae to test drive her car Joyce started explaining to me about the plants in Australia. The lavenders, the eucalyptus tree, and that there are different types of gum trees in Australia.

After the test drive, it was time to hunt for food. Rae wanted to bring us to try this place which was called Mac Donald's Burger which apperently got sued by 'The' Mc Donalds fast food chain for apparently having the same name. Unfortunately we did not find it. We speculated that it had probably closed due somewhat to that incident.

Rae and her Chanel Bag at the counter ordering

Fish and chips and potato cake and dim sim

So we decided to have fish and chips instead. Apparently this is one of the must try when in Australia. We walked into the quaint little shop and well i left the ordering to them because i have no idea how things works. So we ended with a fish and chips set seen above and Calamari rings. They were yummy! While i was at the counter i saw something on the menu called Dim Sim. And i was wondering if the spelt dim sum wrongly. Apparently they did not, and dim sim is this huge ass minced meat + cabbage thing wrapped in the wanton skin and deep fried. So i guess you can call it the Australian take on dim sum. While i was eating, Joyce asked me if i knew that what i was eating was actually shark meat. This is my first time eating shark meat. That got to be something to remind me of my trip to Melbourne.



After lunch it was first off to a vineyard for wine tasting. The vineyard looked really huge but because it was winter, there was no grapes. We went into the wine tasting room to try out some of the wine. As i liked white wine better, i tried their chardonnay. I have to say that it was actually quite nice. Not that i know much about wine, but it tasted sweet and full bodied.


Next it was off to Red Hill Brewery where we tasted all 4 of their beers as seen on the tap above. I settled for the golden ale because it tasted fruity. So we each had a beer and sat down outside to enjoy it.

It was pretty late after that, and the day was getting darker. Thought it was going to rain, but come to think of it, it must have been because that was the time it gets dark during winter. We left to drive back to Glenn Waverly to drop Rae's brother back home. I was totally poofed and fell asleep quite quickly after we got back into the car. Next thing i know Sam was asking me what i would like to have. And because Rae has been talking about this Uncle Bob's dumplings which i have to try, naturally i would pick that. So off we went to the shop, which was super pack by the time we got there. We almost changed our venue. No pictures though, cause i am not very consistent with documenting everything in pictures. But the dumplings were good and my tummy was nicely filled. And eventhough we were all quite full, we went to get bubble tea with egg pudding. And boy am i glad we did. It was so very yummy. Until now i am still looking for somewhere in Subang which i can find something like that. Miss it so much. So that was day 2 of Melbourne

My Trip to Melbourne

People ask me why i bother spending so much money on traveling, which is such a fleeting thing rather than investing in gadgets or what not which i can hold physically and likely last me for maybe 10 years or so they say. I thought about it did some calculations on the trips that i went on this yr alone and well true enough that sum would have bought me some cool gadgets which i have been yearning for. But even so I can't help but still choose to go on my travels. No regrets on all the 3 trips that i took this year definitely. But i think that will be it for the year while i regroup and maybe save for some gadgets ;).

So the most recent and perhaps the last trip for this yr that i went to was Melbourne. It was somewhere which i have been yearning to go to ever since i graduated. The plan was to graduate, work part time and then save enough (say rm 4k) to go over to Aussieland before starting a real job. Then that plan fell through and i started working. Then it was to save enough to go at the end of the yr. And then changed to, save to go down for Rae's wedding.

But one day while itchy fingers were clicking through Airasia's site, i found tickets for 700+ RM. And I felt that i needed a break from life and just run away. I always wanted to do one of those decide suddenly, buy a ticket and fly the next day kind of thing. It just seems so cool and empowering. It feels good when u can say you want to go on a trip and just go. But of course that is easier said then done when u are traveling on a budget and working full time. So i shall settle for booking 2 mths in advance for a trip on a shoestring AUD 500 for supposingly 9 days (August 1st - 9th) Melbourne trip. As it is, traveling took 2 days off of that and so it was 7 days in Melbourne.

The "first" day started off with me arriving at the airport at 12 pm for my 1:45 pm flight. Was suppose to leave the house at 9 as dad needed to pick his business partner from KLIA. But there was a change of plans as they wanted to try out the shuttle train and we ended up leaving the house at 11.

I never really thought about it, but this was the very first time i was travelling alone and out of the country as a matter of fact. I was not as nervous as i thought i should be, but still slightly worried of things which might have slipped my mind that i needed for the flight. Checked and double checked my passport and flight details and all. But i felt so proud of myself to be able to do this as i know not everyone would dare to. Of course it helps that there is gonna be someone (i.e. Rae and Sam) to pick me up when i arrive over in Melbourne. But there is all the going through customs, which when i travel in a group i barely pay attention to because i am dependant that way when i know i dont have to think. A really bad habit, which is why i need to do this to know that i am capable of taking care of myself. So now i know the procedures i need to go through when flying :).

So i arrived in LCCT. Took my luggage with me, lined up at the counter to check it in while my dad waited for me to see if i might need to unload anything from the bag. Just in case. Got my boarding ticket which is a measly piece of paper that looks like supermarket receipt. (that is malaysia budget airline for you i guess). After that, my dad left and it was me and myself. I was hungry and i wasn't sure if there was anything to eat in the waiting lounge as i am such a noob. So i rushed over to Mc Donalds to grab a quick bite before going in to the boarding area only to find there was food inside as well. I practically gobbled everything down because i was worried i might not make it on time for boarding, only to have to wait for another 30 minutes or more before i could board. Silly me.




So for the sake of prove and to burn time, i took a picture of me with the mask, which i did not wear anytime after that on the 8 hrs flight. Shhh don't tell my mom :P. My seat was 16H and i somehow had a feeling it was going to be a aisle seat. Yay for me! But Boe counted and say it couldn't be. Well turns out i was right, although i still havent figured out how that work out to be. But it works for me since i always keep needing to go to the toilet. Though i still can't figure out how when traveling alone do we take care of our belongings when we need to go to the toilet. Got seated with a mother and son which seem pretty nice, so that did not seem to be a problem. Or i might be too trusting. So for the next 8 hrs i kept myself entertained through books and a movie which i got my brother to upload into his PSP for me :). Had my dinner, since i only arrive in Melbourne at 11pm. It wasn't really that bad. 8 hrs passed rather quickly.



Some time into the flight, i looked out of the window and saw something really nice. It was a mid air sunset. I don't think I have seen such a thing before. That was when i whipped out my camera and asked the guy that was with is mom to help me take a picture. I think if i was sitting next to the window you will see me taking pictures like crazy. Even with the DSLR.

So 8 hrs later i arrive in Melbourne Tullemarine Airport. Walked out to the customs and to collect my luggauge. But I have to say i am hopeless at catching a heavy moving bag because i can barely grab a hold of it. What happen was i saw my bag coming, waited and tried to grab hold of it and it totally slipped my grip and i went "fuck" and started chasing the bag. And this nice guy saw me having trouble and he just grabbed it for me and lifted it off the carousel. So I probably look like this dumb bimbo damsel in distress. And i don' t really like that image. I prefer to look like the macho bombshell cool and contained. Then after that i was directed to the customs check, because smart ass me declared my panadols and chinese herbal medicine. What to do, my first time traveling alone. But i guess better over declare than be caught and fined.

So out i went and Rae was there and into the car we went. And i got to feel the nice cold winter air. Half way driving back to Rae's house (and her house is supposingly 10 minutes drive away or something) she asked me. "So what do you think of Melbourne so far?" And my answer was " hmmmmm....... freeways?" :P

I Miss Melbourne Already

I got back from melbourne yesterday at 7 a.m. A whole 7 hours plus flight which was totally uncomfortable and i guess it was because going home always seems the most longest. When i flew there the time just sort of flew by. Not to mention at least i had all the entertainment i needed and someone to at least talk to once in a while.

Now it is back to reality and i really miss melbourne. Its rather odd to hear me say this as i was only there for 7 days. I really had a wonderful time there. And now i am contempelating a long term stay there. How things can take a sudden turn. More details on the trip in the next posts