Australia, Sydney Day 2 - Sydney Opera House & Whale Watching

Woke up super early on day 2 because we are having our Sydney Opera House tour at 9.00am. We wanted to get the 5pm tickets but there was no more left. So we booked the 9.00am one which has special early bird discount too. Save more moolah.

 

Museum Station

Double Decker Train

How cool is there train. It's a double decker train, we only have double decker bus in Singapore. See how empty their train is. Haha, but this was a Sunday but even on a weekday morning, there will still be seats. Singapore mrt how to get such empty trains.

In return, their train tickets are ridiculously expensive. $3.80 for 2 stops (I don't think they charge by the number of stops though).

Bought a spring roll along the way for breakfast, the spring roll does not taste like our normal spring roll but it is damn good.

Our tickets cost only $29.60 as opposed to the $33.30 for the usual online tickets. Early bird tickets are for the 9am and 9.30am tours.
 

Actually, I have no idea why I took this picture, but if I took it, it should be of some importance. So I'm guessing, this is the inside of the 'sails'?

 They took the tiles out for washing or else you will never get to see this black black floor.

I think it's so sad that the designer of the sydney opera house didn't have the chance to see his creation, feels like such as waste. The whole tour takes about an hour and I think if you like to watch opera then you will be able to better appreciate the tour. 

I look quite hapy here but my teeth looks damn crooked and no eyes. After this trip, I think I became a pro at taking jump shots, inititally I need to take a few times for a perfect shot for muihong but my skill improved over time. 

Do I look like I dress very weirdly? When I showed my father this photo, he said why do I dress like a crazy woman -_-

Hot chocolate

Hot chocolate at guylian cafe was good. I'm not good a differentiating whether a particular food is good or very good but according to muihong, the hot chocolate there was the best hot chocolate ever. After hot chocolate and lunch, it was time for whale watching.

I was expecting too much for this whale watching cruise. Paid $49 for the whale watching cruise with Captaincook, which was a big discount from the actual price of $90. I'm not sure if it is cheaper booking online, but if there is no special price online, I think it is cheaper booking directly when you are there since they charge 1.5% for credit card payment. 

Sea meets the sky

So when soembody tell me whale watching, I was expecting to really see whales but all I saw was one adolescent whale which was super far away. The thing is the boat is quite big, so imagine you are at one side of the boat and the whale appear the far end of another side of the boat and by the time you rush to the other side of the boat, the whale went underwater again. The worst thing is, I took out my spectacles hoping to get a better look at the whale and I ended up losing my spectacles. I'm just clumsy like that, more clumsiness in the days to come.

When we were returning, it started raining. The good thing that came out from the trip is being able to see the rainbow.

Rainbow

Double Rainbow

Although the whale watching part of the whale watching cruise is quite disappointing, the ride out to the sea was fun cause it was quite fast which makes it exciting. Why aren't we one of those lucky ones who gets to see sharks or dolphins or killer whales or just a whale within a nearer proximity.

Sydney Opera House

Pirates of the Caribbean Ship

My photos standard not bad eh!

Went for the free walking tour for the rocks. Technically it is free but at the end of the tour the tour guide will ask you to tip according to what you think the tour is worth.

The tour guide is really good. She's a history major student which means she is younger than me but she can speak so well in front of a crowd.

I made this building look like a haunted house. I took this because this building is going to be demolished soon.

Art

Two of the many bars fighting to be the oldest bar at the rocks.

After the tour, it was time for dinner. We had dinner at Sydney Madang.

Luckily we didn't have to queue long, about 10 minutes and we got a seat. So damn good to be able to hide in the restaurant cause it was raining outside. The Korean food there is good. Haha, I kind of dig in already before taking this photo. Their side dishes are good but they don't refill them for you automatically, I think you need to ask. The pancake is good. My chicken tasted abit like chinese chicken but still good.

For the rest of my Australia Sydney's post - click here 

Happy Birthday to Me

When you reach my age, birthday just seems like a reminder of being older and being one year closer to death :o I'm almost at quarter life crisis.

Haha but on my birthday, it's good too. I get to eat cake, drink 2 cups of bubbletea, birthday noodles and receive presents and ang baos.

May the additional one year add wisdom and maturity but do away with the wrinkles and maturity on my face. 

30/9
Can you believe it the next day I got diarrhoea and stomachache.  It is still continuing until today.  I have no idea why though. Rahh, but why I no lose weight after that. 

Funnies 7

Boy: what is your name?
Me: xiuwen
Kids: stingray??!
Me: -_-

Boy: what we call you?
Me: miss chen
Boy: miss chin?

Me: you remember what is my name?
Boy: yes
Me: very good, the other boy cannot remember. So what is my name?
Boy: actually i forgot.

Girl: how old are you?
Me: you guess?
Girl: 42?
Me: *jaw drop* huh I look like 42?!!
Girl: then how old are you?
Me: 24
Girl: you are the opposite of my mom. 
I guess I really look like I have a primary school kid when people all start thinking I'm a parent. 

*discussing why one should study*
Me: if you don't study,  next time you cannot teach you kid.
Boy: then I ask the mom to teach lo!

Kids nowadays are so smart huh?

6th September 2014: Australia, Sydney Day 1

See how the woman next to me sleep. There were 2 babies sitting in front of us crying non-stop throughout the night which meant limited sleep for us. We know we cannot blame babies, because babies will be babies, and I know how uncomfortable airplane rides can be, but still omg, my sleep.

First thing we did after alighting was to get our Yes! Optus sim card for internet. They have a $2 per day plan for 500MB of date and other perks too. I think they sell value by $10 so we got $20. The person will help to install everything for you and tadaa you have data but be prepared to wait because there is likely to be a queue and each person can take quite awhile.

Booked our tickets for airport shuttle bus at $14 per way online. (It cost $19 if you buy the tickets at the airport.) Just need to call the person and meet him at the meeting point to bring you to the airport shuttle 'office' and when there is sufficient number of people, they will bring you to the bus. Felt the cold wind blew through me after stepping out of the airport.

The airport shuttle is quite convenient as it drops you directly off your hotel. I think it's better than taking the train since taking the train is more expensive (I think) and you have to walk from your train station to your hotel and not all train stations have lift/escalator. Just one con of the airport shuttle is the time since you may  have to wait for them to leave the airport and waiting for them to drop off people at their respective hotels.

Stayed at Vibe Sydney Hotel.

Arrived at 12.30pn and our room wasn't ready yet and the person told us to wait for 1/2 hour but we ended up waiting for near to an hour. Was supposed to go have lunch and explore paddy's market but ended up napping. Who can say no to the bed, my eyes were kind of seeing stars already. We never got the chance to go back there. Seems quite stupid to not go there while at sydney. It's okay, next time!

 Woke up to a headache but panadol did the job. Feeling damn cold outside and suspected it was because I was hungry. Went to the World Square Shopping Centre nearby to look for food.

Banana Custard Crepe - $5.50

The crepe is really quite good. I love the cream inside and they give plenty of cream. I was still damn hungry after the crepe so went to search for dinner at around 4 plus 5 which is Singapore time 2 plus 3. Lol, I think it's because we skipped lunch and I didn't really eat the breakfast on the plane because I scare I lao sai cause they gave yoghurt early in the morning.

Crazy queue for the emperor puff.
96-100 Hay Street
Haymarket, NSW 2000

Emperor Puff

After trying, I think nothing special eh. Not worth the long queue. We walked past on another weekday afternoon and there was no queue, so maybe avoid the weekends.

Gumshara Ramen

Gumshara Ramen
Chinatown’s Eating World Food Court
211/25-29 Dixon St, Haymarket NSW 2000

Next, it's time for dinner. I'm eating like a pig that day, or maybe everyday.

Miso Ramen (It think) - $12

This ramen soup is super thick and they give lots of veggies. More veggies than noodles, I need my noodles. Not bad but I prefer the normal ramen soup.

After dinner, went to Coles at the shopping mall to get toothbrush (forgot to bring mine), goat milk and instant noodles. Just like a pig. Actually I cannot believe the hotel didn't provide toothbrush because most hotels does. Coles is okay as a super market but I prefer woolworth's but it also means bombing more money at woolworths. 

For the rest of my Australia Sydney's post - click here 

5 Most Memorable Experiences in Sydney

Just came back from Sydney yesterday.

Before I start on my Sydney blogposts, let's first with my 5 most memorable experiences in Sydney.

Not really in order of which is more memorable, sometimes it's really hard to rate them.

1) Skywalk - Super fun! I love heights but I hate roller coasters.

































2) Falling into the water display - This is really stupid of me.

3) Blue Mountains - Haha, not sure if I like the scenery or the tour guide.

4) Supermarket - How to not be memorable when I spent about 150 Aud at the supermarket O.o.

5) Double Rainbow - How rare to see a rainbow, how rare to see a double one.



















Of course there are many other more memorable experiences, like my first time eating raw oysters!

Australia is really an amazing country, one state can be so hot where the temperature is almost 30 degrees while in another state the temperature can be falling below 10, close to 0. Just in sydney alone, the weather can be as high as 23 and yet as low as 8 degrees also.

For the rest of my Australia Sydney's post - click here 

Woohoo

End of work! Last day of work!!!  Woohoo... 

I feel very heartless because I really don't have the I want to cry because I will miss the kids so much.  In the past,  even for camps I will emo,  as I grow older I become more heartless.  Haha,  I think also because I realize the children won't really miss you,  so I let go much easier. 

Yay!!! I'm flying off in 6 hours time. I was counting down to it when I still had 9 weeks to go and suddenly it is time to go. Time really flies! Let's hope this time will be a good chance for me to recharge and be refreshed after the holidays.  

See you,  Singapore! 

Ocbc sucks.  I tried activating my card for overseas use online but they kept saying it cannot be processed.  Then I tried calling but my call kept getting put in hold last night and this afternoon.  Boohoo. 

A day to the hairdresser

Went to the hairdresser today.

Went from this length

 

To this length 

 

Regretted for cutting my hair this short. It's like shorter than I expected. No more high big bun in Aussie. 

2 more days till I'm off to sydney. Lots of things to clear before then, go go go!