Friday 8 Jan 2010.
I was on the 109 tram, commuting home after Friday night drinks and minding my own business. All of a sudden, there was a random asian man who decided to do chin-ups on the tram. I thought to myself, 'Mate, this is not a gym. What are you trying to prove?'. Thank goodness the dude got off the tram shortly after!
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Thursday, 3 December 2009
I was there...Someday
This morning while eating my cereal, I heard a song on the radio. It was a tune which sounded familiar, but I just knew there was something special about it.
I thought to myself and wondered...
I wondered whether it was the song for the video clip that I saw being filmed in New York City back in September (3 months ago).
* * *
It was another day of sightseeing and roaming the streets of NYC. I had just finished my tour of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where I was privileged to see millions of dollars worth of gold bars stored in an extremely secure Vault. I felt like exploring the neighbouring streets of New York's financial district. I grabbed an iced coffee and a bagel from a dodgy food cart (as New Yorkers do! it is dirt cheap too!) and came across a film set on a random street in the financial district. They were filming a video clip for a song but I had no idea who it was. They seemed to spend ages filming this one scene. It was the part (of the film clip) where the main dude gets out of the yellow cab and walks down a traffic jammed street singing. They did several takes. I just stood on the side line and watched things in action.
I wondered to myself...I wonder if this is someone famous? I wonder if I will ever see the video clip on TV!
* * *
Sure enough, after some reliable research on youtube and wikipedia, I was able to confirm that the video clip I saw being filmed was 'Someday' by Rob Thomas. It made my day, that I was there - on the set of the video clip for Someday!
I thought to myself and wondered...
I wondered whether it was the song for the video clip that I saw being filmed in New York City back in September (3 months ago).
* * *
It was another day of sightseeing and roaming the streets of NYC. I had just finished my tour of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where I was privileged to see millions of dollars worth of gold bars stored in an extremely secure Vault. I felt like exploring the neighbouring streets of New York's financial district. I grabbed an iced coffee and a bagel from a dodgy food cart (as New Yorkers do! it is dirt cheap too!) and came across a film set on a random street in the financial district. They were filming a video clip for a song but I had no idea who it was. They seemed to spend ages filming this one scene. It was the part (of the film clip) where the main dude gets out of the yellow cab and walks down a traffic jammed street singing. They did several takes. I just stood on the side line and watched things in action.
I wondered to myself...I wonder if this is someone famous? I wonder if I will ever see the video clip on TV!
* * *
Sure enough, after some reliable research on youtube and wikipedia, I was able to confirm that the video clip I saw being filmed was 'Someday' by Rob Thomas. It made my day, that I was there - on the set of the video clip for Someday!
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Here one day, gone the next
29 July 2009
Sob Sob...Can I get my bike back please? It was very kind to leave me the lock.
Friday, 24 July 2009
Alaska by cruise ship
15-22 July 2009
Shannon, Jaime and I wanted a no fuss relaxing holiday. We booked ourselves on a week long cruise to Alaska.
Here are the highlights:
and the lowlights:
Shannon, Jaime and I wanted a no fuss relaxing holiday. We booked ourselves on a week long cruise to Alaska.
Here are the highlights:
- Coming back to the room after dinner to find a new towel animal on the bed (the highlight of every day!)
- Amazing scenery - mountains, glaciers and small icebergs
- Tea and scones for afternoon tea
- fine dining every night (and now I need to go on a diet!)
- Seeing whales along the way
- Meeting some cute grandmas. One of them was a spanish granny from Barcelona who stays in hostels. Another 2 asian grannies we met at afternoon tea - I asked them how they knew each other. To my surprise, they were sisters - they didn't look alike and one had an American accent and the other had a British accent.
- maybe not a highlight for the passenger, but we witnessed a fellow passenger being evacuated by stretcher and winched up by a helicopter after he suffered a heart attack
- the waffle station at the breakfast buffet
and the lowlights:
- Getting sea sick on the second formal night. The seas were a little rough that night and I just couldn't stomach any food that night. I ordered the 'surf and turf' as my main which was a beautiful piece of filet mignon with a lobster tail. I literally only had one bite.
- Overkill on the Purrell hand sanitizer. ok ok... I know swine flu is a serious problem, but it is really that necessary to put a million Purrell hand sanitizers on the ship? We even had to sanitize our hands when boarding the ship at every port and even the Captain gave us gentle reminders to wash our hands.
A picture of me on a Summer's day in alaska wearing beanie and ski jacket. See the small icebergs in the background!
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
It's not on the menu!
19 April 2009.
It's been a busy couple of weeks. We had a girls trip to Las Vegas for Easter which was a blast. Then Richie, Kaz and Bonnie were in Vancouver for a couple of days, which was followed by more Aussie visitors (Alisha, Ray, Thao and Katrina visiting from Londontown) that same week!
The londoners certainly enjoyed the abundance of good asian food in Vancouver. Their first meal in Vancouver was Yum Cha (straight from the slopes at Whistler and straight to the Chinese restaurant!) followed by some Japanese tapas at my local Izakaya. One night, we went to Sura, a Korean restaurant on Robson St. We got talking to our waiter and discovered there was a spicy rice cake dish that was not on the menu! Clearly, it is not for the white peeps! So we ordered the rice cakes and our waiter reckoned they were the best rice cakes in Vancouver. They were pretty tasty I must admit...I just had to take a picture of it.
It's been a busy couple of weeks. We had a girls trip to Las Vegas for Easter which was a blast. Then Richie, Kaz and Bonnie were in Vancouver for a couple of days, which was followed by more Aussie visitors (Alisha, Ray, Thao and Katrina visiting from Londontown) that same week!
The londoners certainly enjoyed the abundance of good asian food in Vancouver. Their first meal in Vancouver was Yum Cha (straight from the slopes at Whistler and straight to the Chinese restaurant!) followed by some Japanese tapas at my local Izakaya. One night, we went to Sura, a Korean restaurant on Robson St. We got talking to our waiter and discovered there was a spicy rice cake dish that was not on the menu! Clearly, it is not for the white peeps! So we ordered the rice cakes and our waiter reckoned they were the best rice cakes in Vancouver. They were pretty tasty I must admit...I just had to take a picture of it.
Monday, 9 March 2009
Winter = skiing fun
Had a lovely day at Whistler yesterday. Would love to have posted up some photos of Blackclomb Glacier...but the visibility was quite bad yesterday (in fact, everytime I go to Whistler, it is always cloudy or foggy or snowy). It was definitely worth the 5 minute walk. So, you'll just have to use your imagination!
Saturday, 27 December 2008
Home in time for Christmas - but only just!
The plan was to arrive in Melbourne on Christmas morning.
I left Vancouver at 9.30am on 23/12/08 and headed for YVR airport. Got there with plenty of time to spare. As I walked to the check-in counter, I saw the queue that started in the domestic terminal and snaked all the way to the international terminal! Virtually all flights within Canada were delayed or cancelled. I'd seen on the news that these people were stranded at airport. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
My first flight was delayed as the plane was coming from Chicago, where they were having violent snow storms. The lady at the check-in counter told me that I would still make my connecting flight in Los Angeles even though the plane was delayed. As I waited for my flight, I kept receiving flight notifications that my flight was even more delayed (now 6hrs 46mins delayed). There was no way I would make my connecting flight if my plane was 6 hours delayed.
With some quick thinking, I approached one of the service staff and managed to get myself on an earlier flight to Los Angeles so that I would make my connecting flight with ample time.
On the plane from Vancouver to Los Angeles, I sat next to the trendiest Chinese Grandpa ever. He was wearing a Helly Hansen hoodie, had spiky hair and funky glasses. He was going to Disneyland to see Mickey Mouse for Christmas to get away from the Vancouver winter. Pretty cool huh?
I arrived in Los Angeles with 6 hours to kill until my connecting flight home. I managed to kill the first 3 hours pretty easily. But then, I overheard an Australian say that her flight was cancelled. So I thought that I better check the departure screen for an update. True enough my flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne was CANCELLED. I thought that I had done so well to get out of snowy Vancouver without too much hassle. No!!!!! Would I make it home for Christmas?
So after queueing for a while, I was told that I had been booked onto the same flight on the following day, which would mean that I arrive home on Boxing Day! I wasn't going to have any of that. Myself and other fellow passengers exhausted all alternatives. There was no way that I would spend Christmas Eve in Los Angeles (even if the hotel and food was paid for) and Christmas day on the international date line. I HAD to get myself home in time for Christmas. So after some lengthy discussions with the airline staff, I managed to get on a flight to Sydney on the condition that I had to get myself from Sydney to Melbourne. This route meant that I would arrive home in time for Christmas! Sweet! So I booked a Qantas flight from Sydney to Melbourne and I was on my way...
The long haul flight from LA to Sydney went surprisingly fast considering there were no personal tv screens in economy class. When I got to Sydney airport I was greeted with this sign: 'G'day. Welcome Home.' Sydney is not home, but it was close enough.
The last leg of the journey went smoothly. I had Christmas lunch on the plane, which consisted of a ham and salad sandwich. Met my folks and sis at Melbourne airport which was all good. My plane touched down in Melbourne at 1.30pm which mean that I had been on the road for over 30 hours! But I was home in time for Christmas dinner with the family and that was all that mattered! It was even better that it was Sunny and (kind of) warm in Melbourne. When I left Vancouver it was -10 degrees celcius. I had traded in a white Christmas to be home sweet home. Yay!
I left Vancouver at 9.30am on 23/12/08 and headed for YVR airport. Got there with plenty of time to spare. As I walked to the check-in counter, I saw the queue that started in the domestic terminal and snaked all the way to the international terminal! Virtually all flights within Canada were delayed or cancelled. I'd seen on the news that these people were stranded at airport. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
My first flight was delayed as the plane was coming from Chicago, where they were having violent snow storms. The lady at the check-in counter told me that I would still make my connecting flight in Los Angeles even though the plane was delayed. As I waited for my flight, I kept receiving flight notifications that my flight was even more delayed (now 6hrs 46mins delayed). There was no way I would make my connecting flight if my plane was 6 hours delayed.
With some quick thinking, I approached one of the service staff and managed to get myself on an earlier flight to Los Angeles so that I would make my connecting flight with ample time.
On the plane from Vancouver to Los Angeles, I sat next to the trendiest Chinese Grandpa ever. He was wearing a Helly Hansen hoodie, had spiky hair and funky glasses. He was going to Disneyland to see Mickey Mouse for Christmas to get away from the Vancouver winter. Pretty cool huh?
I arrived in Los Angeles with 6 hours to kill until my connecting flight home. I managed to kill the first 3 hours pretty easily. But then, I overheard an Australian say that her flight was cancelled. So I thought that I better check the departure screen for an update. True enough my flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne was CANCELLED. I thought that I had done so well to get out of snowy Vancouver without too much hassle. No!!!!! Would I make it home for Christmas?
So after queueing for a while, I was told that I had been booked onto the same flight on the following day, which would mean that I arrive home on Boxing Day! I wasn't going to have any of that. Myself and other fellow passengers exhausted all alternatives. There was no way that I would spend Christmas Eve in Los Angeles (even if the hotel and food was paid for) and Christmas day on the international date line. I HAD to get myself home in time for Christmas. So after some lengthy discussions with the airline staff, I managed to get on a flight to Sydney on the condition that I had to get myself from Sydney to Melbourne. This route meant that I would arrive home in time for Christmas! Sweet! So I booked a Qantas flight from Sydney to Melbourne and I was on my way...
The long haul flight from LA to Sydney went surprisingly fast considering there were no personal tv screens in economy class. When I got to Sydney airport I was greeted with this sign: 'G'day. Welcome Home.' Sydney is not home, but it was close enough.
The last leg of the journey went smoothly. I had Christmas lunch on the plane, which consisted of a ham and salad sandwich. Met my folks and sis at Melbourne airport which was all good. My plane touched down in Melbourne at 1.30pm which mean that I had been on the road for over 30 hours! But I was home in time for Christmas dinner with the family and that was all that mattered! It was even better that it was Sunny and (kind of) warm in Melbourne. When I left Vancouver it was -10 degrees celcius. I had traded in a white Christmas to be home sweet home. Yay!
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