Took the train to Mount Dandenong last Saturday with Kitmun, Joanne, Miao Jie (not sure how to spell her name haha) and Isabella. The train ride was 1 and a half hours long one way, and we wanted to be there just before Miss Marples Tea House opened for fear of the long queues, so we had to wake up quite early.

Reached there and took a quick stroll to the Puffing Billy which we decided we wouldn't take. But we couldn't even get in to take pictures or see it from outside, so we went back to the bus stop, and took the bus to Miss Marples.


Reached Miss Marples at Sassafras just before it opened, and already there were a bunch of people gathered outside. It's famous for its scones and ambience, and I must say I was blown away with awe at how pretty the inside was. It's like Teapot Cafe, only much better.


Ordered scones while the rest had some meal first before the scones. When my scones came, I happily ate away. It wasn't until I finished the first scone that I seriously felt like dying. Because the scones were so huge and it was just mouthful after mouthful of bread-ish scones with jam and cream. Zomg. Wanna die, like seriously. I had to beg everyone to eat some of mine before theirs came. Haha.


Later walked around the town and looked at the little shops, while waiting for the bus which comes once every hour or so. It was a little inconvenient to go by bus, but it saved us all a hell of a lot of money, so heck it. We timed it pretty well anyway.

Saw a puppet shop which was really quite cool. Saw some other shops which sold things like creams, soaps, etc. and Kitmun kept tempting me into using hand creams because she's infatuated with them. Haha. And yea I kind of got tempted, to the point that I kept trying all the different testers haha, but being the cheapskate Asian I am, I didn't buy any. :p


Took the bus to Olinda, where we walked around awhile before going to the famous Pies in the Sky, which is obviously famous for their pies. Tried their award winning pies, and I must say that though the pies are nice, I wouldn't travel all the way just to have them. Kitmun says the pies in our uni are just as nice haha. And their mash potatoes! Omg. The worst I've ever tasted. Kitmun thinks that they're the instant ones you get from the boxes. -.-


At that point Miao started to sleep on the table haha, because she and Joanne didn't sleep the night before and they were dead tired by that time. After the pies, we wanted to take the bus to the top of the mountain, SkyHigh, but we found out that the bus wouldn't come until 4.35pm and we thought the last bus down was 4.50pm! So after including travelling time, we would only have about 5 minutes at SkyHigh.

Though I wasn't really troubled about it that much, I thought it'd be good if we had a bit more time at the top. Kitmun and I especially were thinking of different ways to get there while the rest camwhored hahah. We even thought of hitchhiking, which I know my parents will kill me, but I'm assuming it's safer to do that here than back home. But yea since there were 5 of us, it would be difficult, so we didn't.


In the end we waited until 4.35pm and the bus driver was really nice, he said he'd wait until 5pm, so we ended up having 15 mins at the top. Despite missing a few things at the top, I think it wasn't much of a loss.


Took the bus and train back, and fell asleep on the train. Haha. I've never fallen asleep on a public transport before, but it was funny in an embarrassing way. My head kept dropping to the side and I'd jerk it up again ever so often. If I was watching me, I'd laugh at me. Haha.

And that's it for my spring break.

Will have to get the rest of the pics from Joanne.

And that was the only place I went during spring break. Sad sad. :(

* Edit: Ack! Forgot to credit. Thanks to Jean and Calvin the Relative for the pics! :)


Spring break has ended, and today marks the first day back at uni.

But to prolong spring break as long as possible, I have declared today a transition-day to ease me back to uni life after a lazy two-week holiday, so even though I attended classes today, the rest of the day will be spent watching shows. Whee! :)

So here's some more of the things I did over the holidays.

Met up with the ex-colleagues from Adelaide, which I wrote about here. We had dinner, followed by the oh-so-famous gelato which I am getting quite tired of, visited their ultra-cool backpackers place which seemed more like a hotel, and then back to Rach's and Ken's place for beer. :)

Holidays are coming to an end, and it has been a very mild holiday for me.

Usually every holiday we'd go running off on a road trip somewhere, but since Weisiang graduated, Shanice went back to attend 2 weddings, and Manrou and Kyeli went to Perth to visit old friends/meet up with family, the rest of us were left just basically rotting away. Haha.

We originally planned on going around Melbourne, because after so many years being here, you'd be surprised how many places we haven't yet gone to. But alas, the weather was such a bitch last week, and this week even though the weather has surprisingly become much better, I've lost all enthusiasm (and became lazy, yes) to plan for any trips.

Wanted to go Adelaide, but after meeting up with YH for lunch with Ken and Rachel, he kept making comparisons between Adelaide and Melbourne, and I basically got the idea that there was nothing to do in Adelaide. Lol!

Btw, it's surprising how many people from Adelaide have come down to Melbourne this spring holidays. Last week I met up with YH, and just yesterday I met up with Tsu Peng, Nixon and a few others. All ex-intern colleagues. Ah, how I miss lunches with them and spamming their inboxes. :)

Went over to Manrou's to bake last week. She taught Kitmun and I how to make her awesome banana bread and butter cake, and both turned out well! :)

After 22 days in good old Malaysia, I've returned to our colonial master's land, looking forward to another year of study and fun, and god knows what after that.

Couldn't bear to leave all the Malaysian food behind, I've actually brought a double-boiler to UK so I can make my own delicious soup for myself. And yes, it is delicious! I've made once, although quite a disaster the first time, and today I'm doing it the second time! can't wait to have to it for my lunch (as you know, I gained 4 kgs in Malaysia, so my lunch is being downsized)

London's weathers pretty good, I was expecting colder to be honest. I would think its about 20-25 degrees outside, and my flat is about 15-20 degrees! Being in Lower Ground floor somehow makes the place colder. Well, to think about it, Hot air rises right? Haha.

So i've been here for two days now, haven't done much. I went to watch District 9 yesterday with my new flatmate and old flatmate, then Nandos with my old flatmate. Did some grocery shopping, went to Tesco Extra in Canada Water for some essentials for kitchen, and today am doing nothing. My friend, a first-year in my uni, doing my course, is coming over to stay with me for a few days because he couldn't find accommodation. He wants to stay within 10 mins walk to uni, and to be honest, its quite difficult as all students are seeking the same, so demand > supply = HOMELESS!

Uni starts tomorrow, and I have to say my choices for my final year kinda sucks, I have so many 90% coursework assessment papers which I so much want to avoid. Tell me, what do I do?

And on the London Underground yesterday, I saw this :



Tell me what has capitalism become? are we suppose to share now?

* Edit: Added pics to CJ's party.


Oh. My. God.

The most nerve-wrecking 40 minutes of my life.

A bloody bee flew into my room when I opened the sliding door to air my place after cooking dinner. It rested so happily on my ceiling lamp while I stood there, scared to death of being stung but knowing damn well I needed to get it out somehow.

And so I stood. And thought. And watched it so that I would know where it went. I swear I didn't dare to breathe or go near it. Not knowing what to do, I called my parents. They were with relatives at that time, so in the end, all I got out of that call was a big laugh at my expense and no solution whatsoever. -.-

My first attempt at shoo-ing it was to turn off the light.

Big mistake.

After a while, I turned it back on and I didn't know where the bee was! One part of me said, it's gone! Another part of me said, you wish! And so I stood there. And thought. And wondered whether the bee had already buzzed out or whether it was still in my place, silently lurking.

You know how they say never turn your back to your enemies?

Damn right.

And so I took my table light, placed it on the floor near the sliding door, turned it on, and turned off every other light in my place, hoping to lure the bee out by luring it towards the only source of light, my pessimistic side telling me that if I didn't see it fly out or if I didn't whack it dead, then there is every chance that the bee is still in my place.

If it was still in my place, it was too smart for my trick. I don't even think it's attracted to light, but I was desperate enough to try.

Then, after a brief moment thinking that it was gone, I suddenly spotted it hanging on my light at one of the edges! I tried to push it away using a cardboard but it flew onto the ceiling!

So I stood on a table and tried to catch it with a container, which I would then close and throw away, with the bee trapped in it. But I couldn't reach the ceiling! As I looked around, I realised that there was nothing else that I could stand on.

And then it occurred to me: I have a pair of 4-inch heels.

Quickly, I went to put them on, stand on the table and tried to catch the bee. But it's hard to catch something with a tiny container when you're deathly afraid of it. So I gave up and tried to push it towards the sliding door with the cardboard again. After pushing a few times and thinking that it was working, suddenly I pushed once more and *blink* it was gone again!

Now, at this point I started to curse and wonder, where did it go now?!

I checked the ceiling. I checked the light. I checked the tables. I checked the balcony, hoping to see it happily perched outside somehow. But no sight of the bee.

And then I spotted something on the carpet near my TV cabinet, and bending nearer to check it out, I saw that it was indeed that blasted bee.

At first I thought of catching it with the container again.

But I thought, if I missed, there goes another round of trying to catch it again. So I did the only rational thing: I got a roll of newspaper, aimed, and whacked for all my life's worth. And whacked again, just in case. And then I pushed it into the container, clamping it shut and making sure there were no escape routes (not like it could, at that point, but yea).

Then I took the container and rushed downstairs to the dumpster, all the while keeping my eye on the paralysed bee, making sure that it didn't disappear on me again. I took my eyes off the enemy once, I wasn't foolish enough to do it again. The whole way there, I swear the only thing my eyes were focused on was the bee. Reached the dumpster, tied the container up in a plastic bag, threw it, and left with the biggest sigh of relief.

Even now with the bee gone (my God I hope there weren't two of them!), my place feels unsafe and violated. I am never opening my sliding door again. :(