Sydney 27-29 March 2008 - Part 2

The moment I opened my room door, I heard LOUD SNORING. I walked in and WTF*%^$#@*?&! There was a HUGE OBESE GROSS MESSY SMELLY WOMAN ON THE BED NEXT TO MINE!!! And the whole area was cluttered with her 3 enormous luggage bags and some other bags and books. She had long hair and it was super messy like it’d never been combed in weeks. And she took off her skirt and threw it at the side and I noticed it was kinda dirty, faded and gross. And I could see her fat ass and fats spilling out the sides of her underwear, while she was snoring like a, no, like a chorus of 10000 pigs! UGH!

I looked at my bed and WTF@#$%^& again! Where was my bed sheets, pillow and blanket?! F#$% the fat ass took it! And she put her shoebox on my bed! I was damn pissed I swiped the shoe box onto the floor with a loud bang, and her eyes fluttered a lil but continued snoring. YUCK! I went to get new beddings and then went to bathe.

When I got out, fabulous, she was awake and was sitting in the living room (with her long hair all standing up at the back super messy) chatting with some of the girls. But I think we all noticed very quickly that she was really weird and most certainly had mental problem.

Within 5mins, we heard that she
1) by 24 had 8 children

2) is 7months pregnant with twins (!!!?#@$ I don’t have to be a doctor to tell it can’t be true. one girl got a shock and said “now??! U are 7 mths pregnant now?!”)

3) she is remarried. Her first husband died during his job. She went trekking with her current husband and was surprised that she fell pregnant because she is “in her fourties. Early forties”

4) Her pregnancy is complicated because she has a tumour in her kidney. After she conceives, she will have her kidney removed. Now, she has her own self dialysis machine, and she knows how to operate it (apparently it’s in one of those luggage bags)

5) She is 43 years old and is backpacking (or are u just homeless?!)

6) She is a nurse. Started as a trainee and is now a manager.

7) She is working graveyard shifts to earn more money so she might not be back tonight, depending on whether they call her.

8) She was a survivor of the Bali bombings. She won the ticket in a company raffle draw and was there with her children. She lost 2 daughters aged 15 and 18 (she says this emotionless).

9) She was born of multiple births and no longer resembles her sisters because she was disfigured in the bombings.

10) Her entire face, cheek, chin has been reconstructed with steel because the building collapsed and crushed her head. She used to have high beautiful cheekbones and now no longer look like what she used to. (note: there is not a single scar on her face or collarbone area)

11) Her collarbone is made of steel and she has titanium stuff in her hips.

12) She actually booked a double room upstairs with her husband, but someone else booked it by offering to pay more, therefore she has to stay here. Also, because she has so many kids she has no money to stay in hotels.

13) Her husband was going to join her here but he has gone fruit picking to make up a sum of money.

14) She is from Melbourne, Sandringham.

15) She has gone to many countries including the US, middle East, etc.

16) She is now visiting her homeland. Her ancestors built this land. This building was built by her mother. Not the businesses in it, but the building.

17) One of the girls asked her when she was leaving and she said: I’m here on a job. In this area. I’m a nurse. When I finish I’ll leave. The girl asked: so when are u leaving? She got angry and said: Why do u want to know when I’m leaving? Why does it matter? The girl said: I’m just asking this because everyone asks this question here. I’m not trying to offend you, it’s just a normal question.

18) The Sydney area council has mixed her up with another woman (let’s call her Z). In the entry form to Sydney everyone is required to fill out their details together with medical history and they mixed her up with Z. (She kept repeating “I’m not this woman they are looking for.”)

19) She said if any healthcare worker knocks on the door, don’t let them in because they are looking for Z, who is not her. Z is younger than her, 39 years old, name has a Smith as well, but is spelt with a “y” not “I”. Z is diabetic and the healthcare workers give Z insulin jabs, whether she consents or not because Z is mentally handicapped and cannot decide what is good for her. But She is not diabetic but has low-blood sugar so she’ll die if they give her insulin jabs.

20) Also, she is from Melbourne and these Sydney medical practitioners have no authority over her health. They think she fits the profile of Z because somehow they think she is “slow”, but she is not.

21) She then proceeds to tell the girl she’s talking to: what do you study? You’re very smart. I’ve spoken to many people and they just don’t get it, they’re quite stupid, but you’re very smart (the girl didn’t say more than “I know what’s diabetes” and “why don’t you phone the immigration and tell them they’re looking for the wrong person”)

She especially repeated the parts about mixing her up with Z. Actually she repeated a lot of things over and over again. she did say other things as well, but the girls tried escaping the conversation the moment she paused. Haha. I was sitting in a corner (very tired actually) listening. Then I decided this woman is a freak, I have to get out of her and not come back. So I msged Sheng and asked if he wanted to meet me after his Bible Study.

Anyway, I abandoned my nap and headed to wander around the Chinatown. It’s really big! And looks a lot like HK. Haha. I just had fried rice and then walked around. I was so sleepy but didn’t want to go back to the backpackers. So I walked along George Street for 3 hours! Haha but it was nice. Sydney’s nightlife is really vibrant. There were many clubs, pubs and posh bars. People were dressed up, in groups, flocking to the bars. I really liked some of the buildings in Sydney, very Victorian. Haha.

Finally, I took a bus to meet Sheng and we sat at a café and chatted. Sheng’s really kind, genuine and sincere, very nice. After that we took a bus back to my backpackers.

The moment I stepped into the room, the girls who were sitting in the living room watching TV asked if I’d met the woman (the woman had gone “to work”). The girls were nice. They told me all their freaky stories and said I could sleep in their room (one of the small rooms in this bigger room) if I wanted to, and told me to change beds, which I did. I was really worried, Clem suggested I move out and book another place, and I seriously considered that. Also coz most of the girls were going out to party. They asked me to join them, but I was just too tired. I didn’t want to be in there alone lest the woman comes back!

Anyway, they said that the said the room smelt funny so she examined the trash bag and said there was tuna in it and dragged the bag outta the room. And she also burnt a stick of incense on the TV, which the girls had to dig out frantically coz I burnt a large hole in the top of the TV. They said that her versions of the story were inconsistent.

I shifted my stuff to the top deck of a bed a lil further and tried to sleep. But I was really scared that the mad woman would come back. In the middle of the night, I heard several loud knocks. I was so scared I didn’t dare to move. I thinks so was the girl who was sleeping on my bottom bunk.

At about 3am, 2 of the girls came screaming dashing into the room. They slammed they door and barricaded it with the sofa bcoz “with her size she can and might break down the door to get in”. They said that they saw the mad woman upstairs in the lounge/reception area. Apparantly the woman lost her keys, so she stormed up there and shouted at 3 guys who were sitting there (the guys live in the backpackers and were just hanging out near the reception area). The mad woman shouted “I need to key to room 3! Give me the key! I lost my key! That’s my key! (pointing to one of the guy’s keys) My key’s green! Give it to me!”

So the girls didn’t want her to recognise them so they dashed out and back into the room. It was quite funny. We were just chatting about the mad woman and we’d all jump at every little sound. Haha. The girls said they complained about her to the backpackers, but the backpackers didn’t believe she was mad and said at most they’d just not extend her stay (her stay was for a night or 2 I think). 2 of the girls were waiting for Rachel to come back. Rachel is a dancer and usually goes back at around 4am. They were afraid Rachel couldn’t come in coz of the sofa, and they were also afraid she’d let the mad woman in coz she doesn’t know about her.

I finally got to sleep at 4 plus am. But at about 7.40am I was awoken by loud snoring! OMG!!! It’s her! How the hell did she get in! anyway, I hurry packed up my stuff and checked out. WTH, I slept so terribly thanks to her. I was so scared the entire time, scared that she might barge in!


Spot the mad woman

Saturday in Sydney

I walked to UNSW to meet Sheng. He msged me and told me he’d packed breakfast of toast for me, from his dining hall! Thanks Sheng! That was really thoughtful =) Sheng had the whole day planned—where to get Easter Show tickets, how to get to the venue, what to see and do at the Easter Show, when and how to get the Sydney Fish Market after that. Very organised!

Sheng said the Easter Show is a huge week-long carnival at the Sydney Olympic Park. It was very popular so we should check it out. We took a bus to Circular Quay train station then took a train to Olympic Park.



The trains in Sydney are really spacious and comfy. They’re double storey and all the rows of 3 seats can be pushed or pulled to face different directions. So if say you’re with 3-5 friends and wanna sit together to chit chat, you can push the backrest of the row of seats such that the 2 rows are facing together.

The train platform at Olympic Park station

Sydney Olympic Park is bigger than Melb’s I think. We got there and it was a HUGE MEGA carnival with funfare stalls and games, soveniour stalls, exhibitions, competitions, performances, rollercoaster rides, etc. Insane!! Haha!


Me at the carnival entrance

"Showbag" stores. These stores sell goody bags filled with a certain theme of toys, candy and goodies. So they may be Cadbury goody bag, Kitkat goody bag, The Simpsons goody bag, Superman goody bag etc. Kids were carrying loads of them man! and they're not free!

Sheng and I, me wishing I had a The simpsons goody bag....haha.

Yes, I'm a kid, I'm walking towards Kids World. haha. on the left is a game whereby you shoot water into elmo's mouth. the more water you shoot in his mouth, the higher it will rise and u'll win various stuff toys. The girl who was promoting the game sounded quite sian, and she was repeating the same sentences over and over again. might as well get a tape recorder.

Funfare games like fishing out bags, throwing rings onto bottle necks, shooting hoops, bursting balloons could win you...a metre long Homer Simpson stuffed toy!! So cute! I wanted one! but then i decided its probably not worth the effort and money. And also I wldn't wanna hug Homer Simpson in bed. He's one fat screwed up bugger (but very funny). haha. I saw a Bart Simpson one, even cuter. Damn, not i feel like watching The Simpsons now!! But it's almost midnight already...and i haven't bathed after training...haha. Clem burnt me Season 10 before I left, for me to watch here in Melb when I'm bored. Thanks dear =)

Then walking along in the carnival we saw a damn retarded thing...


to be continued...

Sydney 27-29 March 2008 - Part 1

Pre Sydney

It was my week long Easter break this week, and I HAD no plans…until Val suggested I fly down to Sydney to visit Sheng. Great idea, thanks Val! Haha. Oh, a lil digression: at the supermarket on Monday night, I bumped into a couple of ex-RJC guys. I walking down the rows with Ray (S’porean friend who just joined the Athletics Club) when 2 guys stopped me and said “Were you from RJC?” haha yup they were from my batch, chatted with them a lil and realised they’re Sheng’s course-mates in UNSW! And a few moments later, a tall Eurasian guy jumped in front of me and shouted “HELLO!” I was a lil stunned haha. He was my batch mate from RJC too, I think he thought I was Val. Anyway, he went on to tell me who else from our batch are here in Melbourne but as usual, I dunno who anyone is!

So late on Monday night, I chatted with Sheng about the Sydney trip and he was enthusiastic about it and so I booked the JetStar flight and my accommodation—Surfside Backpackers on Coogee Beach. The trip was from Thursday morning to Saturday night.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening. I went for raining in the freezing rain—tough session, but had a nice dinner with Iylia and Ray afterward. Ray kindly offered to drive me to Southern Cross Station for my bus ride to Avalon Airport at 7.30am on Thursday morning.

On Thursday morning, I was late to meet Ray coz I was so sleepy, and my watch was 5min slow! Anyway, it was pouring and shitty. Got to the bus station and…I missed the ONLY bus to Avalon airport. I had to take a cab down which costed me a BOMB!!! Argh!

Thursday in Sydney

Reached Sydney at 11am and Sheng kindly came to pick me up. He briefed me on our itinerary for the day, which he’d carefully planned.

We took a cab to UNSW where he took me on a campus tour! Haha. UNSW is bigger than Melb Uni, and the architecture is generally more modern. The main entrance was really grand and beautiful. The school was nicely decorated with carefully pruned lawns and gardens, sculptures, etc.

The Quadrangle

Then we walked to Coogee Beach and I saw my PATHETIC backpackers…It was not like the ones I’ve stayed at. It’s in a small building along the road, opposite the beach. Ground Floor was Macdonalds, a pub on Level 1, and the backpackers on Levels 2 and 3. The view was awesome but the rooms were not.
View from the balcony.

I booked a bed in the all female dorm, Dorm 3. Dorm 3 was a large room with a living room and a toilet, 3 double decker beds and 2 smaller rooms with 3 double decker beds each. I was sleeping on one of the beds in the living room. The room smelt funky and was cluttered, messy, old and dirty. The toilet was dirty and v dark. Ugh, I though I could survive just 2 nights there…and I barely did. Haha.

After dropping off my bag, Sheng n I had a pizza picnic on the beach.

It was great sunny, warm weather! A great escape from Melb’s wet and cold weather this past week! Ahh…the life.

We took a stroll up a cliff, Dunningham Park on Coogee Beach.



View of Coogee Beach from the cliff.

Anyway, Sheng had to get his camera to snap photo for me (coz I don’t have one) or (in his words) “I feel like you will be missing out a lot”. Haha that was true. So we went to pick up his camera from his college—v nice n cosy, with a little backyard garden, warm dining hall…v nice. We met his friend, Zhang Qi and took a bus to the city.

Sydney is so unlike Melbourne. There’re no trams, it’s buses just like Singapore. The road system is similar to S’pore, there were hardly any bicycle lanes and no silly hook turns.

The city was HUGE! Very densely packed, very crowded, fast paced. It reminded me a lot of Hong Kong, and some areas were similar to S’pore. The buildings were an eclatic mix of grand Victorian architecture and modern office towers. Some streets had bright neon displays and advertisements, and near Circular Quay there was a peculiar monorail track overhead (for sightseeing).

We alighted at Circular Quay and walked towards the famed Sydney Opera House. The quay area looked a lil like Raffles Place, but busier and more posh. We could see Sydney Harbour Bridge on the left and the Opera House on the right. Very beautiful.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Sydney Opera House

Zhang Qi and I, at Circular Quay.

Actually, Sydney Opera House looks better from far. Close up, we realised the arcs are actually slightly off-white tiles. And under the arcs were dull brown glass. It’s quite small, and most of the theatres/facilities are “underground”, under this huge stone steps. So the arcs are just the roof. Sheng insisted we had to touch the bricks, steps, all parts of the Opera House. Haha. But the view was panoramic. We could see across to North Sydney, look back at the city skyscape, and the Royal Botanic Gardens.

We took a walk in the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Some cute ducklings in the pond. Reminds me of how when we were young, we used to feed swans at the botanic gardens in S'pore some Sunday mornings before church.

Map reading Sheng guided us through the city
Check out the crazy expression on Sheng's face!

across the Pyrmont Bridge to Darling Harbour
Zhang Qi and I on Prymont Bridge, outside the Darling Habour Monorail Station.

Darling Harbour is a more bustling and bigger version of Clark Quay. There were many cafes, pubs and restaurants there.

Sheng and ZQ on Darling Harbour.

We checked out Lindt Café, the famous Swiss chocolate brand.

They had chocolates, macaroons and mouth watering cakes at $9 a slice (minimum).

But it was too pricy, so we settled for an early dinner in a pub. I had a steak and cheese burger, YUM. We then went for some gelato to cool down in the heat.

We strolled around the area then took a bus down to The Rocks near Circular Quay and had famous Pancakes On The Rocks, a pancake restaurant.


Devil's Delight (chocolate pancake with fudge, choc ice cream and strawberries)

Blueberry Heavan…truly heavenly…haha. They were devoured in 10minutes.

After that, Sheng sent me back. It was really fun chatting with Sheng and ZQ. Funny and nice chaps. Back at the backpackers, I took a bath in the dim bathroom and tried to fall asleep. The group of European girls were chatting loudly in one of the rooms and then in the living room. I overheard their conversations and I can only say: They have screwed up values.

Friday in Sydney

I was awoken at 7.45am and went for a 70min long run along the coast. I’d planned to run to Marouba Beach, which I did. It was a great cool run.
View along the coast

Some rich person's private pool with an awesome view, on a cliff edge (The mansion is blocked by the bush).
Marouba Beach. It was deserted. Perhaps it was early. in my opinion it wasn't spectacular, but this photo makes it look worse than it really is. haha.

This is Mahon Pool. They're natural pools modified by man to become kinda like a sea water swimming pool by the sea, sea water can rush in and out.

Another seaside bath near Coogee Beach.

View from my run along the coast.

Then I took a bus down to Bondi Beach for some surfing!!!

I booked a 1.5hr private surfing lesson with Bondi Beach Surf School.
Luke, my instructor, and I in Bondi Beach Surf School.

It was fantastic, I’m a natural! Haha. My instructor, Luke let me progress super fast and by the end of the lesson, I’d completed what most other people do in 15 lessons! He couldn’t believe I’d never surfed before, but said my athletic background, ability to swim, good sense of balance, flexibility and intelligence helped. Haha I sound so thick-skinned saying that, but it’s true.

It was high tide and windly so the sea was choppy and waves rather strong. He said we’d practice lifting my torso up on the surfboard for 15min, but after 1 practice, he said I can go straight to attempting standing up on the 9ft hard foam board. On my first attempt, I already managed to stand up and surf all the way to the beach. Impressive eh?

Haha. After a couple more surfs, he said he’d do sth he’s never done before, that is to “upgrade” me to a 7.6ft board. Beginner students usually go from 9, 8.6, 8, 7.6ft. He said it’d feel really different and I might not be able to stand up, but we’ll see how. I stood up on the 2nd attempt.

It was fantastic, I surfed a couple more times, all the way to the beach. The most difficult/tiring bit is fighting with the waves to get out deep enough to start surfing. He taught me how to choose where to surf by looking at how the waves crash. The sea slopes down, then there is a sandbar about 70m out, where its shallow. But, due to my height, I had trouble getting the surfboard out to the sand bar, while most other people would be able to walk there, coz I couldn’t reach the ground. Also, the surfboard is big and difficult to drag out coz of the big crashing waves, which throw you around and washes you towards the beach.

But I told him I wanted to paddle out instead of him helping to pull me out, otherwise next time I can’t get out to catch waves on my own. Yup, it’s tiring coz have to paddle hard, and when waves come, you have to push down the end of the surfboard to get on top of the wave, then quickly paddle the moment it sweeps under to prevent getting swept back to shore. But the waves throw you around so gotta try to stay on the board and paddle straight.

Once, while I was paddling out, we saw 1 large wave catching up with another (so 2 waves crashing together). I was lying face down on the board paddling out, so he got behind the board, held the end of it near my feet and pressed his weight on it so that the front of the surfboard could tilt up high for the wave to pass under. But no, it was enormous! The waves crashed on us and we both flew off the surfboard.

Yup, then he taught me how to turn while surfing, and I successfully tried backward and forward turns. It was so fun! But after the lesson, my left thumb was swollen and my right elbow hurting, from struggling with the surfboard (getting out to sea). It was quite funny coz the waves are strong and they flap the board around and throw you all over the place.

After the very fun surfing, I took a bus to Bondi Junction and did some shopping. It’s a really nice place with street mall and big shopping malls. Then I was tired so I took a bus back to the backpackers intending to sleep. BUT…


to be continued...

Lessons Learnt

Wow it's been a long time since I last blogged! I seriously neglect my blog everytime i return home to S'pore. A quick overview of my 3.5mths in S'pore from 22 Nov-8 March:

1) Came in 4th at the SEAG--very pleased with my effort, placing and time!
2) Did a 2.5 mth internship with Fleishman-Hillard Singapore, which was a great learning experience. Very fun and nice colleagues too =)
3) Trained running with Bern, Rong, Dad and Bae on Sunday evenings--great improvements there.
4) Met up with some friends altho i spent most of my time working/sleeping
5) Got my DRIVER'S LICENSE! woohoo...
6) Spent some quality time with Clement.


So what's up this first week back in Melb:

1) Sweltering in 38deg heat
2) Submitted my exchange application to UPenn. I should know if I get accepted by next month.
3) I changed training schedule/clubs. I'm still running with Tony (MUAC), but I've joined Fluid Movements (training provider for Melbourne Triathlon Club) for swim and bike trainings.

During run trainings on Mon and Wed, I could totally feel the effects of my off-season! My legs were stiff and tense. But it got better. It's time to shake off these cobwebs! haha. WEd evening after training we all headed down to The Clyde for dinner/drinks. I had a T-bone steak and orange juice. Yum. It was great catching up with these guys, it was really fun. There were many new faces as well, those who just joined us this sem.

On Thurs morn, I left home at 5.50am to cycle down to Kew Blvd (Yarra Bend Park) for bike training. It was PITCH BLACK in the 13km loop. No lights, street lamps, nothing. Absolute darkness. I cldn't even see the coach's face while he was talking to me at the start! The only thing i cld see during the ride was the white line on the road. Insane. And it's a bumpy hilly loop in there. kinda dangerous. When the occassional car drives past, their headlights are blinding! Anyway, I was shivering like crazy despite having arm warmers on, while some other riders were in short sleeved jerseys.

Anyway, it's a small world. Sean Foster, the head coach, used to coach Ani Katrina Deleon (i think that's how her name's spelt) from Philippines, whenever she was in Melbourne.

On Fri morn, I cycled down to SYS for swim squad, about 5.5km from my place. The session was really tiring, but good. The one downside, was that the 25m indoor pool was 2.2m deep all round! So everyone has to cling onto the lane rope/pool deck in between sets.

Yuppers, anyway I'll be joining them for a long ride-run down beach road tmr. I hope I can keep up!

Last night I met Jansen for dinner. We had Jap food followed by some dessert at Brunetti's =)

Anyway, this arvo I headed down to Word Bookstore, a Christian bookstore in the city. I bought a Bible and 3 Christian books--Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado, A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado and Finding God's Path Through Your Trials by Elizabeth George. Sounds like quite alot to read, but I figured it's more meaningful to read these instead of thrashy magazines like Cosmo.

Sometimes, I'd browse these lifestyle magazines to try to answer my questions on relationships, dating, life, self-improvement, etc. But why consult these unreliable sources when we have a loving God who cares and understands, and whose word is true and never fails?

While in S'pore, during some very draining and exasperating times, I met someone very inspiring, someone whose actions and words shone of God's grace and heart, someone who gave very good advice from the Bible. It made me realise that God puts me through trials to teach me some lessons: to be patient, to keep praying and to trust and depend on Him completely. And about LOVE.

I remember at some point, I was on the brink of giving up and thinking I'd tried everything I could possibly do to turn things around, yet nothing was happening. Maybe it was time to simply DO NOTHING. To just surrender to God and leave it in his hands, trusting that He will guide me through, and His answers are wiser than my prayers. And when I trust Him, He works miracles and answers prayers. I read in the Daily Bread, that we can plant the seeds, water it, whatever, but it is God who makes it grow.