A White Christmas

Christmas eve dinner at Auntie Margo's was awesome. I wish I was a kid again! We had a enough turkey to feed an army. There was a real Christmas Tree too. There were so many presents that they didn't fit under the tree!

Big Guy, Mel & Jennifer

This is the gingerbread house that we built. The roof collapsed later that night due to shoddy workmanship. We were too stingy with the icing!

It snowed on Christmas day! It was my first white Christmas. We had a pot luck dinner at Michael & Gerda's place with Turkey & bon bons!

Gastown

The famous Gastown Steam Clock. I happened to be passing by on the hour and was wondering why all these people were congregating on the street. They were waiting for the clock to strike. The steam was quite an anti-climax!

The Tower (of beer) makes a jug of beer look like a shot of beer. A lazy Sunday afternoon at the pub, watching American Football.

The Ugg Boot - an Aussie Icon

Here's a question I'd like to pose...

Is it 'un-Australian' not to own a pair of Ugg Boots?

I'll admit that I do not own a pair. I never saw the need to own a pair, especially as it doesn't really get that cold in Oz. Ugg boots are amazingly popular in Canada. All the chicks are wearing them. I refuse to give in to peer pressure! hehehe

P.S. one other observation I'd like to make. Every chick in Vancouver has a 'Coach' handbag. Then occasionally a girl will have a matching Coach umbrella and Coach gumboots! Unbelievable.

Christmas is coming!

Christmas is just around the corner! It snowed this week, but it was all washed away by the rain. We had our work Christmas party on Sat which was held at the Commodore Ballroom. I've also started shopping for ski gear in preparation for New Years at Whistler. I just shut my eyes and hand over the credit card! haha...

Here are a few pics.


Christmas Party - Mel & Sarah

Canadians truly are weird. Yet again on a Sunday...this punch buggy had toys and some Christmas Decorations.

Christmas lights at St Paul's Hospital.

A big doggy bag

Sat 7 Dec 2007.

Rach (from Sydney) & I had a Canadian pub meal at The Keg. Canada doesn't have a big pub culture, it is more popular to go to Sports bar. The Ice Hockey (commonly known as 'hockey') was on. The Vancouver Canucks were playing the Penguins. There were big tv screens in every corner of The Keg. Everytime a team scored a goal, there was a loud cheer throughout the bar. Rach didn't finish her meal, so asked for it to packed away in a doggy bag. The doggy bag was so stylishly packed, I had to take a photo!



This was the view of the mountains taken from my client's office, where I was working from this week. See also the Harbour Centre with the revolving restaurant where we went for work drinks last week.

A Sunday drive

This is a cracker!

What were they thinking? Toys stuck to the car and stickers on both the interior and exterior of the car. What the? Pretty funny stuff...

Snow in the city!

Pinch and a punch for the first day of the month! I woke up to find that it was snowing in Vancouver. The locals tell me it doesn't usually snow much in the city. It's beginning to feel like Christmas!

A side street in my 'hood'.

All this snow in one afternoon.

The Office

Thurs 29 Nov 2007.

We had after work drinks at the local watering hole 'Steamworks'. It was the night before CA exam results were released. The whole idea was to party all night, then check results first thing the following morning. Then the partying continued at a club called 'the cellar'. It was crazy stuff for a week night. Then to top it all off, everyone got a cab charge home. It was the firm's way of encouraging responsible driving.

Fri 30 Nov 2007.

The partying continued...bubbly was served at morning tea, followed by more after work drinks. But this time it was at the Harbour Centre revolving restaurant which had some spectacular views of Vancouver.

Wanted: Handyman

Experience assembling IKEA furniture a must.

Cordless drill not required! hahaha...

The very first piece

Wed 28 Nov 2007.

Getting the priorities right - my first piece of furniture was the TV!

What's news on page 34?

Wow, Kevin 07 made the news on page 34 of today's Sunday newspaper (The Province).

Where are the Canadians?

I've finally found somewhere to live. Yay! It felt like I had been househunting for weeks, but in reality it only took 1 week. It's a one bedder downtown and I move in next weekend.

Throughout the week, I kept meeting more and more Brits. Canadians must be shy. Work was quite uneventful this week. Although I'm still trying to get my head around using Lotus notes.

People in Vancouver seem to very organised. Everyone has started their Christmas shopping and it isn't even December yet! Tomorrow, there is a Santa Claus Parade on Robson St, so I might go and check it out. Our family Kris Kringle with the relos has been organised too!

New Years is 'sorted' too (imagine me saying this with a pommy accent!). I'm going skiing at Whistler with a bunch of Brits for New Years. How's that for organisation. I heard on the grapevine that this trip was organised by the secondees before they even arrived in Canada!

I still haven't seen much of the city as yet, but have noticed that Canadians love their Starbucks. At the intersection of Thurlow & Robson St, there are 2 Starbucks diagonally opposite each other. What the!

Until next time, ciao!

Have you broken your beer?

I've been in Vancouver for 1 week now. It took me most of the week to get over the jetlag.


Earlier this year, I spent 4 months in London and only hung out with Aussies. Now in Vancouver, I have met quite a few Brits. I had lunch with 4 Brits last Friday!

On Sat night, a few of the gang from work went out for a meal in Yaletown. One bloke, Eric (from Sweden) was telling us that instead of saying 'have you finished your beer?' the Swedes say 'have you broken your beer'. We all found it quite funny.





This is a piece of artwork near Chinatown. I thought it was a pretty cool abacus. The beads actually move up and down too!

O Canada!

Greetings from Vancouver! I've been here for 3 days now. So far so good...except the jetlag which is killing me. I'm safe and well...and making sure that I'm eating my vegies! I've been busy settling in but won't bore you with all that stuff. So here are a few of the more interesting things so far...

Sun 11 Nov 2007.

• I arrived 1 hour after I departed Melbourne. That's the beauty of crossing the International Date Line! The 13hr flight from Auckland to Vancouver was a long one. It was the fourth time they had flown this new route. Thank goodness the plane was half empty - as I had 3 seats to myself.


• One of the airport staff at Vancouver told me my accent was cute! He was a Saffer himself.


• I caught up with Age and Tania for dinner. Tried my first Canadian beer 'Kokanee' made with Glacier water. Tania was telling me that I was fitting right in with the Canadian fashion because I was wearing a jumper with the diamond checkered pattern!

Mon 12 Nov 2007.

• The jetlag has kicked in. I woke up at midnight and couldn't get back to sleep until 4am, only to be woken up by the phone ringing at 9.30am. It was Uncle Richard calling to say I had 1 hr to get ready for Yum Cha.


• Yum Cha with the relos. We had a table for 12 and it was so nice to meet family, especially the Aunts & Uncles that I had never met before. Brunch was the usual deal with 'ha gao' & 'siu mai'. Being the latest surrogate family member, just imagine my grand uncle piling the food onto my plate. I was so full by the end!


• Mark, my relocation consultant, was giving me a tour of the city. He's a pom and has lived in many cities including HK. We were talking about all sorts of random things in the car and it was so funny when he came out with the words 'lap sap' (meaning rubbish in Canto). I was so amused. Then I was telling him, the criteria for my house hunting was that the nearest supermarket had to sell bok choy! haha Isn't it funny when you're away from home, you start craving things that your good ol' mum cooks.

Tue 13 Nov 2007.

• First day at work. I was somewhat excited about starting work as it has been 7 1/2 months since I last had a 'real' job. We had some technology training in an interactive virtual classroom which was quite cool. You could raise your hand to ask a question, laugh at the facilitator's jokes, applaud and chat to everyone in the classroom using an instant messenger. The facilitator would have no idea if you were 'alt tabbing' between applications! hehe

Last comment the day: I can't say that I have immersed myself in Canada. There seems to be alot of imports around. Plenty of poms, asians and the occassional aussie. I even saw someone with a Safeway green bag at the supermarket - must have been an aussie.

Word of the day: pound. Press the 'pound' key to contine...What key? Oh...that's the hash key!

Nobu-licious

A lovely dinner at Nobu Melbourne with the folks.

The food speaks for itself...

Black Cod with Miso

Tuna on chips

Scallop New Sashimi Style

Enough said. Need I say more?

P.S. please excuse the amateur photography.

Gone Shopping...in Honkers!

18-22 Oct 2007.


I was on a mission. I had 4 days in HK. The purpose was to shop like crazy...oh and also eat and go out. I won't bore you with what I bought but the shopping was sensational as always.

Here are some of the highlights:



The best Brekky: Macaroni soup noodles with Beef (no chopstick skills required as you get a fork and spoon to eat those slippery little suckers!). All this time, I thought this was a dish that was invented by my grandma & mum. But this trip to HK, I learnt that it is actually a dish served in the local noodle houses for breakfast!






Met up with Longy and his mate Quin for drinks in Causeway bay. It was nice to go to a bar where locals hang out. This polaroid pic was a gift from a Halloween promotion they were doing that night. You know how Honkies love taking photos! There was a girl sitting at the table next to us. She managed to trip over twice within the space of 5 minutes (must have been a cadbury drinker!). I also learnt about the 4 types of HK girls, MK (Mongkok tri-hards), CWB (Causeway Bay hotties), Central (i.e. trophy wife types) & New Territories (farming country bumpkins). Hilarious stuff!

Mission accomplished!

P.S. I have become a total travel snob! There was no 'on-demand' inflight entertainment on the flight. Not happy, Jan!

Melbourne - the place to be!

Melbourne...a place I call home!...and one of the few places in the world that serve Chicken Parmas.

I've been back for a little over a week now. It feels as though I never went away and that Melbourne has been stuck in some sort of weird time warp! Not alot has changed in 5 months. But a few things have changed...so here's a short summary:
-you now have to pay for meter parking until 7.30pm (previously 6.30pm)
-Chaddy is being extended again (although this probably started before I left)
-Nobu opened at Crown
-Bracksy resigned

Other than that, Melbourne feels like a small village compared to London.

Oh, and the weather has been quite cold, wet and miserable in Melbourne but I'll whinge about that another time!

Jap food - French style

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love eating Japanese food. So on my last day in Paris, I decided to try some Jap. In Paris, alot of Jap food is served with fromage (cheese). I was so curious that I had to try it. So I ordered a sashimi set menu which included a skewer of cheese wrapped in meat. Sadly, the cheese skewer was disappointing. Cheese just doesn't go with asian food in my opinion! I was told by a local frenchie that they have sushi with cheese too!

Smell the cheese! See the last skewer on the right.

Word of the day: Scaffolding

I don't mean to whinge, but half of Europe was literally covered in scaffolding. Was it bad timing or is Europe always covered in scaffolding?


A warped house in Paris! Pic taken in 16e near the Champs Elysees & Louis Vuitton Store.


Scaffolding covering the Chateau de Versailles. Both the front and back of the palace were undergoing major refurbishments.

Pics from Paris

View of the Abbey at Mont St-Michel

Mona Lisa at the Louvre - she is smiling but is she happy? According to emotion recognition technology Mona is at least 83% happy.

Moulin Rouge

Pics from Amsterdam

Bjorn Borg, the tennis legend now has his own fashion label and a store in Amsterdam.

Little J on her little green bike outside her student apartment block of shipping containers.

How's your latin? Translated, it says 'men shouldn't pee into the wind'. Pic taken near Leidseplein.

La Techno Parade

Sat 15 Sept 2007.

We decided to do some sightseeing in the Marais area of Paris today. But we ran into a techno street parade. It was hilarious watching French guys dance!

Crazy Scots

The Scots have invaded Paris for the Rugby World Cup! There were so many crazy Scot's partying by the Eiffel Tower, there was even a huge queue at the men's loo. There was plenty of atmosphere...with Bagpipes, kilts and all!

Salut from Paris

Wed 12 Sept 2007.

Bonjour from Paris.

We are having a great time. So far, we have seen the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Avenue des Champs Elysees and more.

Rugby World Cup fever has hit France. Crazy Scot's congregate near the Eiffel Tower in their masses, prancing around the town in their kilts and rugby jerseys.

Escargot (snails) for dinner on our first night .

Tour Eiffel at night. Mel standing next to a French rooster (mascot for the French Rugby team).

Say Cheese!

Fri 7 Sept 2007.

Today, we went to the Alkmaar Cheese Market. Rounds of cheese were stacked in the square, then whisked away on wooden sleds by porters wearing colourful hats.

Say Cheese! There was plenty of Gouda cheese being sold at the cheese market today.

Clogs being sold at the market in Alkmaar.

We also went to the Anne Frank museum today. This is a statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam.

Ok, so it's not quite the red light district...but this was one of the billboards we saw on our travels in Rotterdam. It reads 'most beautiful buttocks on Sloggi' (Sloggi being the brand of underwear).

I want to ride my bicycle

The main mode of transport in Amsterdam is push bike.

I've started a photo collection of bikes!


Dude...where did I park my bike? This pic was taken in a multi storey bike car-park at Amsterdam Centraal Station.

You can't get more Dutch than having a bright orange bike.

Pretty with flowers.

Blue with white polkadots.

Zebra stripes.

Harley style!

Howdy from Dutchy Land

Hi from Amsterdam. Sorry to say, but the weather in Amsterdam is worse than London! It feels like winter already!

No visit to Amsterdam is complete without a trip to a coffeeshop for a bit of wacky tobacci.

In search of the magic mushroom.

Mel in a giant clog.

Better go and do some more sight seeing...hanging out in coffee shops and window shopping!

Pics from England

Mum, Dad & Mel at King's College, Cambridge

At the Prime Meridian Line, Greenwich.

Mel running to catch the Hogwart's Express on Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station.