Day 1 (15.3.2011) - The 12 hours journey to Sydney

So, all the excitement began when I took a very long leave from 12 Mar 11 to 23 Mar 11. Took extra days of AL just to rest more and have a full stack of energy for work later... wow, sounds like pekerja cemerlang, but well... back to work on 24 mar and I was just so lazy... lazy lazy. Haha.

Our flight from KUL to SIN and then to SYD via Singapore Airlines is fun because all this while, we have been using the Air Asia for it's low cost fare. LCCT is always crowded 24x7 and unlike KLIA, it was quite empty, peaceful and clean!

We arrived at KLIA at 6.10pm and after check-in, MCD was always the spot to kill time before we can board. Initially we thought of having our dinner in Singapore but it will be quite late about 9pm so we decided to have some "finger food". I admit, looking at the finger licking good fried chicken, I just can't resist and requested Justin to get me 1 chicken breast and it tasted so good! Fully satisfied!

Upon arrival at Changi Airport, we headed to the Food Centre! Not much choices to pick and finally, we chose Lerk Thai restaurant.

Drink from left : Watermelon juice, lemongrass tea and mineral water!

Appetizer - Mushroom salad for mushroom lovers.. nice but too sour.

And a small bowl of tomyam to satisfy my taste bud of the day!

Green curry chicken ..

Stuffed tofu..

Dessert - Mango sticky rice ..the mangoes were so sweet!

Steam tapiocca with coconut milk... still prefer the one that we had in Southbank Thai restaurant near Clark Quay.. superb!

The comfortable chairs with a large LCD screen viewing National Geographic.

And the washroom....... and I rated Excellent because it is excellent! Looks like every bush we had photos. LOL.

So, that was the end of day1 and we spent 1 hour at KLIA, 1 hour of flight from KUL-SIN, 2 hours of waiting time at SIN and then 8 hours of flight from SIN-SYD. Total, 12 hours... still, this cannot be compared with my previous trip to Italy which took about 17 hours of flight+waiting time. So, US is definitely eliminated from travel list. =)

Day 1 - The 12 hours journey to Sydney
Day 2 - Welcome to Sydney!
Day 3 - Sydney City Tour!
Day 4 - Sydney Color Conference 2011!
Day 5 - Sydney Aquarium and Darling Harbour!
Day 6 - Sydney Wildlife & Magistic Cruise & Sydney Tower & IMAX

Capitol Square Hotel Sydney @ Sydney

Initially we wanted to book for Novotel at Sydney, just opposite of Sydney Entertainment Centre, but it was fully booked even as early as in January. Looking around the map of Sydney and we noticed that the location of this hotel is quite strategic as well, few minutes to Chinatown, few steps to Sydney Entertainment and most important, this hotel is in the heart of all majestic shopping malls!

This hotel ain't that big, but the service is good. Everything went on smoothly from checking in to checking out.

The walkway before reaching our queen-size bed..

After being at airport and in the plane for 12 hours, looking at this bed is just so wonderful! 8 hours of flight is no joke.. tiring! This room is approximately $169AUD per night..

The wardrobe!! With a mini fridge + freezer...


Toilet ain't that big and luxurious, but most importantly it's clean. We noticed 1 cockroach crawling out from the bathtub, but it's ok. Complain if only your house is free from cockco. Hehe...


Don't drive.. the parking rates are crazily expensive!! You can easily walk towards sydney entertainment centre and catch a monorail from there. AUD4.90 per way and AUD9 for whole day.

Overall, we had good stay in this hotel without any problems.. except for the first night, there was no water! Sigh... Anyway, this blame should not go to the hotel management because the water disruption was due to the construction next door. Mineral waters in Australia ain't that cheap, one big bottle cost about $4.90 and one small bottle $2.20 (the cheapest).

This hotel is in a perfect location with the gigantic shopping malls, monorail, Sydney Aquarium (if you don't mind walking a lil further), Chinatown... etc =)

When I woke up this morning .....

I woke up this morning with this verse in my mind, Psalm 121. Thank you Lord! This is such a strong assurance that God is watching over our lives and we shall not be afraid. We grow up with the so many what if in our lives and as day goes by, the what if increases. As "what if" increases, our daily worries increases, our heart pumps faster than usual, we got more headaches, we grow weary over little things, we make ourselves scared when everything is actually alright, but.... thanks to the promise of God below.

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

It is so normal to get yourself tied up with worrisome over small little things, but always remember, your HELP button is in Heaven! God has already promised that He never slumber, but He's watching over us every seconds, day and night. We will not even slip our foot, nor lie flat on the ground but He will lift us up in times of trouble.

Thank you Lord for the protection!

Green View Restaurant @ PJ

This post was sort of outdated because CNY already ended 1 month ago and I was just so lazy.. ;P Thanks to the lovely Grace and Mike for organizing this Lou Sang event and it was a huge crowd, 14 of us lou sang-ing together. FuN!

We were the first to arrive!

Jalan 19, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
No. 6 & 8 Jalan 19/3
46300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
For reservations, please call : 03-79581076/03-79549263
Business Hours : 11am - 11pm (Open daily)

Yee Sang with salmon is always the best!

Wohooo.... look at all the excited peeps!!! And everyone had funny resolutions for the year especially the one, "XXX, get married! XXX, get married" Haha!

Sang Har Mee a.k.a Prawn Noodle! Their signature dish and it's famous. My first time having this meal and it was delicious! Just look at the big prawns served but check out the price at the bill below, haha!

And everyone had a share of this big prawn!

Herbal Chicken ~ The soup was thick and it has nice fragrant herbs smell. Generous serving of ginseng too :)

Pork ribs ~ Sedap!

Honey Sotong

Kam Heong La La ~ Generous serving of big lala and not those small tiny lala.

Vege


Overall the food here is good and this place was fully booked after CNY. Not sure if it's fully booked on normal weekends as well, but to be on the safe side, make your reservation. Everyone was busy lou sang-ing but still can't fight with our 14 loud speaker voices. Haha.
Happy New Year everyone!

Peppermint Fried Egg

Have you ever tried to fry eggs with peppermint? I have a pot of peppermint and it's growing wild, not sure what to cook with it until I heard people frying eggs with peppermint. I'm trying to imagine will it taste good or will it taste like colgate with eggs? Haha.... Anyway, I gave it a try!

Fresh peppermints from the garden... no pesticides, no chemicals, and clean!

2 eggs with some soy sauce and dash of pepper and some big onions...

Stir fry the big onions until fragrant, then add in eggs and lastly, peppermint leaves. Surprisingly, it is delicious! Didn't taste like colgate/darlie at all but it just has such a fragrant flavour.... try it!