Heyyyooo guys!

I've just finished my exam today and I'm in a particularly good mood.

Only one more to go, ohyeaaaaa *smug grin*

Aight, here's another sequel – the 7th blogisode – for my Sydney trip!

Taken along some wharf area 🙂

So being a typical tourist, I was seen with enthusiasm plastered on my face and lugging around my camera.

Just as I pointed my shooter to this buggy-wuggy looking train, the driver grinned, waved…

and shouted "HEY!!" to me 😀

We kept walking and walking; it was nice to feel the cool breeze against my skin.

Best part was, it was evening by the time we got there.

Yay! For the sun was just beginning to set 😀 😀

The sunset was too pretty to miss!

So I took a moment to sit by the waters and yeah, started shooting away

Leaning back : just a random piccie of my Converse

As we kept walking, I realized we've finally reached the huge bridge of Darling Harbour!

It's really up high and we took an escalator up.

It was an excellent view along the entire bridge – admiring the city skyline

With couzzie Bernice atop the bridge!

It's a reaaallllyyyyyy long bridge across the sea.

But long walks can really be a pleasant experience, especially if you have a picturesque scenery like this!

Stopped to take so many pictures!

You can see puddles on the pathway, remember when I told you it was really cloudy leading up to a wet weather in the afternoon whilst I was at the Sydney Opera House?

Yeah. I'm glad the rain cleared up now, making way for the peeking rays of the sun!

OMG OMG did you notice the rainbow in the background? 😀 😀

I never spotted it until I saw this photo

Various office buildings along the crystal clear waters

I had an odd sense of deja vu whilst walking along this route.

It somehow reminded me of a certain spot I walked past in Clarke Quay, Singapore. It looks almost similar!

When we were finally done with the breathtaking view, we adjourned for dinner.

But before that, I came across this strange fountain-like thingy and the first thing that came to my mind was that I just HAD to run around the spirals.

BUT IMMEDIATELY STOPPED MYSELF FROM DOING SO BECAUSE I SAW A GROUP OF 5 YEAR OLDS

DOING EXACTLY WHAT I WAS JUST ABOUT TO EMBARRASS MYSELF WITH

Hmmmmmmm…. at least I'm glad to know that my inner child still reigns.

IT LIVES!

Passed by the Chinese Garden of Friendship!

This stone lion/dragon above must be the guardian of its gates

… which somehow reminds me of Mulan. The great stone dragon which Mushu broke

Speaking of stone animals, something very peculiar caught my eye.

What on earth is this?

It was a stone sheep/ewe/ram suspended in mid-air

My, my… you must be having fun defying gravity

And I certainly had fun becoming a shepherd for a fair bit

BAAA RAMM YUUU! To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true, sheep be true! BAAA RAMM YUUU!

(quoted from one of my fave award-winning film Babe, the sheep-pig, released in 1995)

Omigosh and finally we began to head home.

I had such an amazing time – a full day out from 9 o'clock in the morning until past 8pm!

Was about to pass out the moment I got home! Oh but before that, I'd like to remind you to….

Sign me up for any sheep-wrestling competition!

… because I know the sheep password 😛 😛

G'dday! Haven't been updating in a couple of days now as I've been pretty up to my neck with final, major assignments (I'm down to my last one!) and moving from the West rez to the South rez!

So yeah, packing and such… I never realized I had SO MUCH stuff.

Anyway, here's the next sequel to my Sydney trip as blogged here and here

All aboard the MyTrain towards Circular Quay where all the breathtaking landmarks are!

the Shens were nice enough to show me around 😀 😀

While walking along the sidewalk, I caught sight of the Harbour Bridge! OMG I'm that much closer to it.

Just keep walking, and walking…

Habour Bridge in the near distance

When we finally arrived at Circular Quay, the clouds began to loom over the already gloomy sky. A heavy downpour was expected when it started to drizzle 🙁 But never fear! Auntie Julie brought umbrellas for us.

Yay! couzzie Kenneth holding the umbrella while I camwhore 😛

It was rather a long walk, but I was enjoying every minute of it.

I passed so many boats, cargo ships, cruise ships, yachts along the harbour.

Friendship 🙂

Standing up high on the bench!

Passing by more ferries!

The architecture and landmarks weren't the only ones that caught my eye.

There were flocks and flocks of gulls around the harbour too. Take a look at this one!

Minding its own business; posing for my shot

And before I knew it… we have arrived our destination! A surge of exhilaration filled me whole as I spotted one of the finalists of the 7 New Wonders of the World – the Sydney Opera House *bigwidesmile*

It's like hearing/seeing so much about it and finally being able to see it – for real – with your very own eyes.

My excitement knew no boundaries

Lo and behold, what a magnificent sight!

We had to walk past the Harbour Bridge first, before getting into the Sydney Opera House.

I hear people can climb atop/across the bridge… for a hefty fee? I was totally game for it but didn't wanna waste extra money $$$ and time

……. ok fine. I'm somewhat afraid of heights. Just a tad 😛 😛

So I watched from afar

Photos or it never happened!!! 😛

Here I am by the Sydney Harbour Bridge

ze Shen family and I

As we approached the Opera House, I couldn't wait but to camwhore with it before we actually got inside.

So… are you ready for my most mostest-test favourite-test-test-test photo in this blogpost?

yay! Me + Sydney Opera House

You can tell that I was ecstatic.

Like ouumaiigawwwdddd I'm actually here! Ya know what, I aim to see ALL the 7 wonders of the world – new and old.

Okay, that one photo wasn't enough. Couldn't decide which one looked nicer so…. here's another one 😛

You can see the Opera House much clearer in this piccie

And when I finally got closer, here's a full piccie of it.

It's just beautiful, with its shape that resemble either the sails of a ship or a cockle shell to me.

Ooooh. Ultimate jizz.

But hey, want me to be frank?

Apart from all the hoo-haa on the Sydney Opera House and its beauty, it only looks amazing from a distance. When you actually arrive directly in front of it, it looks like a boring, old, brown warehouse

Look, I'm not bagging it or anything, all I'm saying that it doesn't look as impressive as it does from afar.

But I still love it all the same; very glad that I got to witness it for myself for the very first time

Wheeeeeeeee

Sat on the steps leading up to the Opera House

There were agazillion steps, which makes me wonder if any elderly person can make it up there.

Then I remembered my granny who climbed the Great Wall of China – twice! Not bad.

Here I am against the glass windows of the Opera House

Here's something odd. I'm Chinese but I've never been to China.

I think it works that way for many other Chinese friends of mine too. Well, Imma make it a point to climb the Great Wall of China before I die!

Walked behind the Opera House and sat on another set of many, many steps again

An architectural beauty built by a Danish architect in 1973

Remember what  told you about the gulls?

They were everywhere!

And flocked right into my face LOL

Well, thankfully, I'm no bird prey

Much love and many thanks to the fabulous Shens who took time off their day

to spend this memorable moment with me!

Oh well, a short but priceless trip to the Sydney Opera House *beams*

Here's another piccie of it as I leave – one more for the road!

Adieu! *waves*

All the excitement suddenly fizzled out when I realized I hadn't had my lunch yet.

It was already almost 3pm and all I had for breakfast was a bowl of cereal and an avocado!

Walking towards The Rocks for Pancakes

I hear they are the best. Let's put it to test soon!

Passed by this beautiful flower garden

Look – it's the Harbour Bridge again in the background!

After lunch at Pancakes on the Rocks (review in the next sequel blogpost), we adjourned towards the carpark.

But but waaaiiit a sec –

It's the awesome-pawsome Sydney Opera House again!

This time, from across the clear, blue waters of Botany Bay

My jaw dropped at the wonder of its beauty; standing tall underneath the rays of the sun.

Thankfully, the cloudy skies had cleared up. I ran all the way to the edge of the barricade to photograph it

All in all, I had a brilliant, rockin time!

Although a tad too much gushing about the Opera House for one day, I'm certain you're only gonna hear it once!

Hope you enjoyed reading this just as much as I had writing it. Feel my adrenalin rush!

 
Here I am on a 6 hour long coach ride back from Tioman.
Bah… at this rate, I’ll be alighting the bus approximately midnight

Anyhoozers, Part 2 of The Star BRATs like I promised!
A sequel to this blogpost of BRATS Part 1, Kuantan was where it all happened.
 

BRATs began and a few of us began manning the registration counter.
Typical! The BRATs were all on their best behavior on the first day. Hehe. But not for long! 😛
 

For starters, they were required to introduce themselves.. sounds pretty easy right?
BUT ON CAMERA! Yup, a stand upper was what they were supposed to do.
 

They say a camera adds 10kg to a person. Heh!

They did pretty well considering it being their 1st time. However, there were some hilarious blunders and bloopers which became a significant inside joke for most of ‘em.
 

Something that went along the lines of : “HI. MY NAME IS SIXTEEN. EHH?”
 

More food for thought on newsworthiness, what makes news, different types of news and other fundamentals were being fed to their young minds before putting them on a simple practical test.
 

They were to gather as much info as possible about Jason and I and interview us on different angles of our blogging history, profile and journey. How to interview a person, how to approach a person and ask the right questions 🙂

Now, these were important to hone their skills – before they set off in the open to scour for news and handle real life interviews.
 

Lunchtime!
And I spotted a gingerbread mosque. I’ve seen gingerbread houses, cookies, men and lots more for Christmas…
 

…..but a GINGERBREAD MOSQUE? Cooooolios 😀
 

The very next morning, it was time for them to put their newly acquired skills to test. Yeeehawww!
Feeling ambitious? 😀
 

The BRATs was split into a few groups for convenience and the group that Ian and I accompanied were assigned to the Batik manufacturing factory. For the benefit of my non-Malaysian readers, Batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique.

See the pretty finished products that we love and adorn?
 

Now, let’s get behind the scenes!

There are 4 key processes involved in making a Batik.   
Waxing, Coloring,  Dyeing and Boiling
 

I watched and guided some of them as they interviewed the masters of the trade
He’s Myanmanese (and I don’t recall his name) but this fella below speaks fluent Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin!
 

Not too shabby for a non-local, at all 😀
 

Kinda puts my Mandarin command to shame but that’s besides the point. Heh 😀
 

They were given a chance in stamping the repetitive Batik motifs with hot boiling wax.
 

I had a go too! 😀

I don’t know who’s bright idea it was to do our very own BRATs version of Batik but we imprinted our lack of artistic skills on the cloth to form an unimpressive, lopsided outline anyway.

Finished product. Doesn’t it look somewhat close to the original? 😀
 

Hell yeah, if I do say so meself!
 

 
Here’s the final process. When everything is all stamped and painted on in place, the masterpieces are dunked into a boiling hot cauldron of water and soda to melt off the wax.
 

We skipped this process ‘cos we ain’t got all day! To boil and wait for it to dry would take furrrevaah!
 

Proud! 😀 Some of them were quite a natural with the paintbrush by the way.
 

Ian and I camwhoring with the Brats Batik!
 

While we were at it, the rest of the groups were busy at their respective assignments; the Keropok Lekor factory and the Ikan Masin processing site. Both are very notable foodstuff in Kuantan – quite like a heritage!
 

Kuantan is never complete without their huge-ass Chewy Fish Craclers and fresh Salted Fish
Oh and did I mention that the entire bus reeked of fishy stench the moment that group boarded? Pheeee-ewwww!! 😛 But it was all good!
 

When we all returned back to the hotel, it was crunchtime for them! They were supposed to produce newsworthy material in a few forms – an article, a photo essay and a video. So, chop chop!
 

Till the next blogpost! BRATs Kuantan Part 3 coming up soon. Think surfers and beach boys  😀
 

Oh and by the way, here are some of the local delights which we Seniors and Facilitators indulged in every night for supper.
Satay! Chicken, Beef and.. er.. Rabbit meat -__-
 

But they were all so succulent and bursting with every stick we sank our teeth in! Much, much better than Satay Kajang. Hmmph! I can vouch for that.
 

The famous Nasi Impit. Such adorable cubes of glutinous rice, no? 😀
 

Oh and, one very prominent thing I will always remember at every single BRATs session: SNACKS & JUNKFOOD APLENTY!!
 

And if you thought we were gonna starve you in this “bootcamp”, that’s where you’re gravely mistaken – we stuff you till you’ll never look at Pringles, chocolates or cookies the same way again!