Sydney Sickness

I went to Sydney for the weekend, but spent most of Sunday in bed sleeping. I felt so sick that I was just desperate to be in bed. We checked into the Hilton at 11am and settled in our room. I quickly went to sleep soon after and didn't wake till three. It was an awesome 4 hour nap. 

It was just as well because the weather was gross. It was freezing cold, more so than Melbourne, and it was raining, windy, and there was no sun. Even when it's cold, Melbourne is still charming, but Sydney is just gross. We were going to go to the Rocks but were too lazy and just ended up walking around the shops in the city where I acquired a new item of clothing. 

My Rugby World Cup 2011 jersey. 

Awesome.

Melbourne

I'm going to Melbourne this Friday! 

I will be heading over on Friday afternoon on a 4pm flight so I will probably head to the airport sometime after lunch. My dad has a flight and I thought it would be nice to fly down to see him since I haven't seen him in about a year or so. Unfortunately, in the interest of cost-saving the airline doesn't have them stay in any one place for very long, least of all Australian flights. So he arrives on Friday night and leaves on Saturday night. 
 

We are staying at the Hotel Rendezvous and when I say we, I mean that I am sponging off my dad and getting free accommodation. Hehe. Initially, I thought we were staying at the Crown Promenade and got so excited about that. I stayed there when I went to ANZMAC last year, which was complete good luck and it was amazing! I was a little disappointed to find out we were staying somewhere else, and then had to laugh at myself for being such a princess. 

Every time I travel, there always seems to be some awesome exhibition happening. I remember seeing Salvador Dali Liquid Desire, which so far has been my favourite. So this time around, I am dragging my Papa to see Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition. I was also keen on going to Brunetti's for breakfast but have been warned by Lindsay about the weekend crowds.

My Canberra Sunday

When my plane landed in Canberra, I looked out the window and thought, "I'm in Canberra... SIGH." But once I step out of the airport, I'm greeted by a nice cool breeze and think of everyone back in the Brisbane heat and humidity. Hehe.

I arrived at the hotel early and my room wasn't ready, so I went to the National Gallery of Australia to catch the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition. I changed my flights around to catch this exhibition. This is how much I like going to galleries.

The exhibition featured works by post-impressionist artists from the Musée d'Orsay. The most thrilling moment for me was when I came face to face with Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night, one of the pieces I love by him. At the end of the exhibit there is the obligatory gift shop, but this was a gift shop like no other. I have never been to an exhibition where the gift shop has blown me away as much. It was like every item they could think of, they sold at the gift shop. There were postcards, posters, placemats, aprons, alcohol, magnets, underwear, you name it - they had it. With a "Masterpieces of Paris" stamp all over it.

I was tempted to buy some framed A3 prints (Van Gogh and Monet) but in the interest of cost-saving opted for postcards instead. I went a bit nuts with the postcards because I got quite a few:

Felix Vallotton: Le ballon ou Coin de parc avec enfant jouant au ballon (1899)

George Lemmen: Plage a Heist (1891)

Claude Monet: Londres, le Parlement: trouée de soleil dans le brouillard (1904)

Claude Monet: En norvegienne (c1887)

Henri-Edmond Cross: Portrait de Madame H.F. (1891)


Maurice Denis: Regates a Perros-Guirec (1892)


Maurice Denis: Les muses (1893)


Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: La clownesse Cha-U-Kao (1895)

Très jolie!

After the gallery, I had lunch at Wagamama - complimentary thanks to their frequent noodler program. And then, it was chocolates at Koko Black ($9 for 4 pieces!!!!) and back to the hotel. My room was finally ready and I checked in to find cricket on TV.

Win.

Sydney in September

I went to Sydney over the weekend on a whim and it was great. I was coming off the back of a long week of lecturing. Larry was in Singapore so I did his Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Management lectures while he was away. On Tuesday, I ended up teaching 7 hours in a row, having to do my usual 3 hours of tutes and Larry's 4 hours of double lecture. I also had consults in the morning so by the end of the day, I just wanted to sit down! Wednesday wasn't so bad because it was only 1 hour of tute and 2 hours of lecture. When Thursday rolled around, I did another guest lecture for Ian's Market Research class to present the findings of my first study as the students were using my topic for their assignments.

By Friday, I was in Sydney, checking into the Swissotel. It was great. I'd always wanted to stay there but being 5 star it was just too expensive. Lindsay got a good deal so I was incredibly excited to stay there. Friday night, she took me to a Korean place for dinner where we had Korean BBQ. That was yummy and then we went to Chinatown after that and found the night markets with all the Chinese food. I loaded up on egg tarts because you know, I'm egg tart-deprived in Brisbane.

On Saturday, we went to the weekend markets at the Rocks. I'd been to Sydney several times before but never knew they were there so it was awsome to check it out. The last time I was there on a Saturday, I went to the Paddington markets instead so it was nice to do something new and different. I love markets and ended up getting some jewellery from this African guy who gave me a discount - although I think I probably should have bargained for a lot less given he was so willing to give me said discount :p

Saturday night, I caught up with Kirsty who took me to a bar at Darling Harbour to watch the rugby. After that, we had dinner at Bacio and then dessert at Lindt cafe! I was a little too stuffed to have much at Lindt, so I only had their ice chocolate but it was yum... I have to say, I had an awsome night but I can't really explain why since it was just your usual drinks, rugby, dinner, and dessert type of evening.

Sunday was the day of the Sydney Marathon and Lindsay was running the half. So I went down to Circular Quay and waited at the finish line in front of the Opera House. I managed to see the first person cross the finish line for the full marathon at 1 hour 29 minutes (gasp) followed by the second person a minute later, and the third about 30 seconds after that. It was just incredible. There were so many people and I managed to catch Linds as she finished.

Sunday was also Eid, so I wore a green shirt and my new jewellery and forced Lindsay to have lunch at Mamak with me that day. We both had the nasi lemak, which was so good and I had mine with sambal prawn thinking at least I was having sambal on Hari Raya.

Melbourne Memories

I was in Melbourne last week for conference and had the chance to enjoy the city for a day on either side of my working days. I arrived on Monday morning and checked into the Novotel on Collins, which was a really nice hotel in a great location. I didn't realise that Collins St is kind of like the boutique street because I went for a walk and found all the designer boutiques along the sidewalk. It was heavenly. I came across Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Escada, and by the time I hit Prada, I'd decided I needed to go inside. At least I can say that I went into one of the stores! I probably should have taken more pictures, but I get so lazy to do the tourist thing and I am probably going to be back in Melbourne in December anyway so I let that slide.

I had lunch at Grossi Florentino's which was lovely but terribly expensive. As expected of a fine dining restaurant, the service was excellent but the portion sizes were puny. Surprisingly, when I ordered the tiramisu, this ginormous thing that looked like part of a mini igloo appeared on my table. It was the biggest slice of tiramisu I had ever seen. It was ridiculous! I struggled to finish it and gave up in the end from being too full and feeling guilty for all the cream I was consuming.

I didn't do much else on Monday except walk around the shops and do a spot of shopping. I understand now why their tourism campaign uses the "lose yourself" tagline because I pretty much spent my time exploring the laneways, which was fun but I probably would not have been able to find my way back. I checked out Haigh's Chocolates, which was right next door to the hotel, so I was actually able to find my way back. I spent forever browsing in store and I spent a lot of money in there during my stay but didn't actually buy any chocolate for myself as I was paralysed by choice.


I had dinner at Laksa Me, which is supposed to be a Malaysian laksa place. I didn't realise it was curry laksa and not the "normal" laksa I'm used to in Brisbane and back in Singapore, but it was worth a try nonetheless.

The next day, Tuesday, was the first day of the conference followed by the conference dinner at Bluestone Bar and Restaurant. We went to the lounge first for a pre-dinner drinks reception and then upstairs to the restaurant. It was quite beautiful and I appreciated the decor. The service was very good and the food didn't disappoint.


Wednesday was the second and last day of the conference, after which we caught up with Sandy in Lygon Street for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Ti Amo, which is Italian and again I thought the food was pretty good. Although it was State of Origin night, we were a bit tired after dinner so I caught the game in bed in the hotel.

Thursday was my last day in Melbourne and my flight didn't depart until 8pm that night, so I had a full day to walk around and explore. I wanted to catch the Salvador Dali Liquid Desire exhibition so I walked over the Yarra to find the Gallery.


I'm really glad I went because I enjoyed the exhibition more than I've enjoyed any other. I never knew much about Dali's work before but his paintings and his work was so beautiful and so emotive. I felt quite emotional looking at some of his art (and then felt like such an idiot) but it was just beautiful. He manages to express so much into his paintings. I enjoyed that a lot of his work reflected the different stages of his life as well as the times that he lived in. I liked how his art went through different phases, like how his early work reflected much of his home and his family, and then his later works reflected his thoughts about the war, and so on.

After the gallery, I decided to check out Southbank. Or is it Southgate? Or are they two places adjacent to one another? I went to the Eureka Skydeck and was treated to some spectacular views of Melbourne.

I was quite impressed and I can understand now why so many people have such a strong preference for Melbourne. It's pretty spectacular and it has beautiful architecture with some beautiful Victorian-style buildings. I got the sense that it was a very cultured city and people everywhere were so beautifully-dressed.

After the Eureka Skydeck, I decided to find the Crown Casino. I remember having lunch in the food court the last time I was in Melbourne 5 years ago. Along the way, I managed to get some beautiful photos.

I found the Crown Casino and the food court fairly easily and discovered that the Asian stall had yong tau foo. Mm.... I miss yong tau foo... After lunch, I caught the free tourist shuttle for one last look around. I skipped the Melbourne Museum as I was too tired and too lazy to check out the Pompeii exhibition. A small part of me still thinks that I should have, but I would have been wrecked if I had. Overall, I quite enjoyed Melbourne, although I'm still trying to shake off this chocolate addiction I've acquired ever since stepping foot into Haigh's!

Lose Yourself... in Art & Melbourne

I'm so excited!

I'm going to Melbourne in July for 4 days and have been feeling a little ho-hum about it. It's become a bit of tradition that every July I attend the International Nonprofit and Social Marketing Conference, followed by a short holiday at the location. Last year, it was in Sydney and for four days afterwards Damien and I did a nice holiday with lots of sightseeing, which was fabulous. I had an awsome time.

This year, the conference is in Melbourne and I was initially all excited about the holiday afterwards but that idea fell through in the end. At first, I thought I might spend a few days just sightseeing but in the end, gave up on that idea upon deciding I was too poor. So in the end, I'd booked my flights to allow me a whole day before the conference and a whole day after. I figured a day on each end would suffice to walk around and entertain myself fairly easily. From thinking my trip was going to be this superb holiday, it ended up to the point where I was most excited about having meals at Grossi Florentino, Nelayan, and Laksa Me. And I think that it's quite sad when it's meals and only meals that you most look forward to on a trip, rather than activities or sightseeing. Hah.

Today I find out that there are a couple of exhibitions happening in Melbourne while I'm there and it's got me very excited! The National Gallery of Victoria is having a Salvatore Dali - Liquid Desire exhibition. It's the first ever comprehensive retrospective of Dali's work in Australia, exclusive to the NGV and I can't believe I'll be there while the exhibition is on!


While I was being all giddy thinking about seeing Dali's art, I found out that the Melbourne Museum is having an exhibition about Pompeii. Pompeii!! The exhibition is called "A Day in Pompeii" and will showcase all things relevant to everyday life in the city. I'm so excited!


And there you have it. From ho-hum to giddy with excitement. I amuse myself sometimes...

Byron Bay

All those teaser pictures were from the Byron at Byron Resort & Spa, which was supposed to be a Damien-and-Nadia-trip, but ended up being a Cheryl-and-Nadia-trip instead. It didn't matter because the trip was lovely and the resort, luxurious.


The resort itself is very expensive in terms of accommodation cost, but if you feel like a little luxury and if it's a special occasion, I say do it! The resort is featured in many travel magazines, one of which is entitled "Hotels of the World." I am pleased to say that I've stayed in at least one of the hotels featured!


For me, the highlight of the resort is their pool, which is the centre of the resort. The infinity pool is lined with deck chairs all around and you are surrounded by the rainforest. There weren't a lot of people at the pool, nor at the resort itself for that matter, so there was absolutely that sense of exclusivity which was heavenly...

Of course, the resort offers poolside food & drink service, so I got to enjoy my afternoon with my best friend, Margarita...

The entire resort had a very bright, light and airy feel to it. There was a lot of space, sunshine, greenery and colour in the form of the vermillion gerberas they used to decorate the resort. The gerberas were everywhere!

We were also able to visit some of the shops in Byron itself and I was keen to see the Lighthouse. To think that I've lived in Australia for nearly five years and never once have I been to Byron.

Seeing the most easterly point of mainland Australia was incredible. I always enjoy being able to see out to the horizon. Always the sucker for a great view.

Apple & Bee Adventures

I bought an Apple & Bee fold out bath bag from Ciao Bella the other day. I chose the pale blue apple design, not realising that they had several more designs from Apple & Bee itself. Later that evening, I walked past Perfect Potion on my way to the bus stop after gym and spotted the same Apple & Bee fold out bath bag in the parkland midnight blue design that I liked much better than the pale blue apple design. Doh!

The next day, I received an email from Ciao Bella informing me that due to an oversight, they were out of stock on the Apple & Bee bath bags in pale blue apples. My options were to wait until Tuesday for the new stock to arrive, get the apple blossom midnight blue design instead, or receive a refund. I chose the refund. Now I was free to get the parkland midnight blue design from Perfect Potion - yay!

I had to wait until Saturday before I was able to head to Perfect Potion again. I walked into the store and couldn't find any of the bath bags. I asked the salesgirl about them who then told me that they had sold them out that day. Oh no!! Disappointed, I walked out of the store... but then I noticed a display bath bag in the window. I went back in and asked her about it to which she admitted she'd forgotten all about the display bath bag and that it was indeed the last one. So I grabbed it. Yay!

Now, I am in possession of my beloved Apple & Bee fold out bath bag in parkland midnight blue design. I'm ready for my weekend trip to Byron Bay!

The parkland midnight blue bath bag that I bought is the one in the foreground :)

Ciao Bella

I'm in love with this new website that sells stylish travel products. I tend to travel about 2-3 times a year, internationally and domestically. This year I've got plans for domestic trips to Melbourne (twice) and Byron. Last year I did Sydney (twice), the UK, and Singapore. The year before I went to Singapore and New Zealand.

I thought I would give it a go with something small, so I ordered this Willow & Finch sleep mask. I tend to wear these when I have trouble sleeping at home, but I also take them on flights. I try not to care too much about what other passengers might think about this girl with the pink sleep mask...

I haven't received it yet, but if all goes smoothly, I've got my eye on a few other items that they've got which are incredibly cute. I carry supermarket plastic bags with me when I travel to put my dirty clothes in, but this laundry bag is just too cute.

I also tend to wrap my shoes in more supermarket plastic bags and that's just so ugly. The shoe bag is cute and matches their laundry bag. I know that no one's going to see this stuff but I think if you've got things that make you smile when you look at them, it doesn't hurt.

I also found a matching set of "Wash Me, Wear Me" lingerie bags. All these years of travelling, I've used... you guessed it... supermarket plastic bags to put my things in. They've got three different styles; black with white print (pictured), black with pink print, and white with pink print. It's so hard to choose just one!

Lastly, while checking out their new arrivals, I spotted this incredibly cute hot water bottle which will no doubt be nice to have in Melbourne in July! The cat design was what won me over. I'm such a sucker for packaging.

I'm a victim of my own trade. Clearly.

More weekend trip teasers

More stills of the resort from our upcoming weekend trip.

Love the interiors


So spacious

And an exquisite tub!

Our Weekend Getaway Part 2

More photos from our upcoming weekend getaway.

Just under 5 weeks to go!

The pool

The reception area

The verandah

Photos courtesy of their website

Baby wants a holiday

I haven't had a holiday since July last year. Well, I kind of had some time off over Christmas and New Year but I didn't actually go anywhere or do anything...

Let's think backwards. In December, Cheryl and I spent a few days in Sydney, but that was more like a leftover from a doctoral colloquium. In September I went to the UK, but that was for a conference. When I wasn't at conference, I'd spent all my time being jet-lagged and feeling very poor (damn English pound). I did a stopover in Singapore on the way there and back but two days is hardly a holiday. It was more like a mad rush to buy as much stuff I could that I couldn't find in Brisbane and eat as much cheap Singaporean food as I could that I couldn't find in Brisbane. It was not a holiday. Sydney in July was a holiday, despite also coming after a conference in Wollongong. Before that, it was three weeks in Singapore over New Year's in Dec/January.

Maybe it's time to convince Damien to accompany me somewhere. But where?

Off to see K-Rudd!

I am going to Canberra on Sunday

For a statistics course - boredom meets more boredom!

At least I have marking to take with me... it just keeps getting better and better!

Return to Sydney (and Parramatta!)

I was in Sydney again this year for the ANZMAC doctoral colloquium in Parramatta. It was about an hour to Parramatta by train and although it felt like a small town, I was impressed by the number of restaurants, shops and cafes on offer. Apparently, the biggest Westfield in the southern hemisphere is the one in Parramatta and it was absolutely massive. The girls and I had dinner at one of the italian joints along Church Street on our last day and we had the best pasta ever.

Cheryl and I stayed on in Sydney for a few more days, where we were put up in a hotel which was pretty strange. It had the most abstract layout to its floors, the rooms were oddly-shaped and our room had 2 single beds as well as bunk beds - 4 people could have stayed in our room! It was pretty tiny but the location was smack in the middle of Chinatown, which was great. We were close to food, EasyWay, World Square, and Darling Harbour... for a few dollars more, you could stay somewhere nicer like the Ibis World Square but we weren't spending much time in our room anyway and the location really won me over.

We spent the first day just wondering around Sydney and later met up with Kirsty for dinner and drinks at Circular Quay. She took us to the Shangri-La, which had a cocktail bar at the top floor with amazing views of Sydney, the Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House. We then headed to this pub for dinner with views of the Harbour Bridge on your left and the Opera House on your right. It was quite surreal.

The next night, we met up with the QUT people - Sam, Tom, and Olivia for Happy Hour drinks at Tokio Hotel on Darling Harbour. Olivia, Cheryl and I continued with dinner on the other side of the harbour and it was a pretty fantastic night, catching up.

I went to the Olympic Park the next morning to meet with a professor to get some feedback about my work and ended up staying for one session at the main conference. I met so many people I knew that I hung around for a while before leaving to have a late lunch back in Sydney. A $27 sushi-train meal later, I was ready to head back to the hotel to grab my bags and leave for the airport. I must have spent a bit on the trip overall, but I rather not know!

My Brighton Trip

Two weeks ago, I was in Brighton for the World Social Marketing Conference. It's hard to imagine that it was only recently that I was there. I flew to London via Singapore and did a one-night stopover to see Mum and Azri and check out the Geylang Serai Bazaar together. The next morning, I was back on a plane. I wasn't looking forward to the 14-hour flight. I hadn't done such a long flight in yonks. I think the last long-haul flight I did was to Cairo in 2001 and I don't even remember how long that must have been.

I watched movies for most of the flight and was a bit disappointed with the food service as I was starving for most of the journey. When I finally arrived in London, I was surprised at the number of Eastern-European looking people at customs. London must be the place where everyone in that region wants to escape to. I had to take a train from Heathrow to Brighton, which was another agonising journey. I took the wrong train from Paddington, got lost, and tried to ask for directions from a well-dressed woman who promptly ignored me like I was invisible, even though I was standing right next to her and saying "Excuse me" three times.

I arrived in London at 3pm local time, but it was 7pm by the time I reached the hotel in Brighton. I'd spent 40 pounds on the trains, 20 more than I thought I would, and my mobile wouldn't let me make calls or send smses even though I had auto-roaming, a signal and could receive calls and smses. I was exhausted, poor, and upset that I wasn't able to call home and hear a friendly voice. I didn't even think about dinner and just went to bed.

The next day, Monday, was the first day of conference. It was my first overseas and international conference (apart from ANZMAC which is regional) and I was there alone. Interestingly, the first people I met were Australians and as the day went on, I met more and more Australians I knew. I was a bit freaked out by the conference at first, but decided to just enjoy myself since I wasn't presenting that day. I ended up listening to some really good sessions, but was so jet-lagged that I'd left the conference dinner early that night to go to bed.

On Tuesday, I ran into someone I met in Wollongong at the hotel restaurant so we had breakfast together, which was nice. I attended a few of the sessions in the morning before going back to prepare for my own session. I thought the presentation went well. The room was full at the start (almost full by the time it got to my turn), although I had two questions both of which I really had no idea what the person was going on about. I was just glad that it was over.

That afternoon, I randomly bumped into the professor I knew from the University of Brighton, so we made plans to meet for dinner. I was happy about that as I'd really wanted to meet up with him and I was going to go out for dinner by myself anyway. He took me to an English restaurant/pub type place where I had a traditional English Guiness pie. Very nice! It was a lovely experience, although when we left it was starting to rain and the wind was pretty gusty. I'd never experienced wind so strong before, I thought I was going to get blown into the sea!

The conference only lasted for two days, so by Wednesday I was free to explore. I cancelled my plans in London and decided to just stay in Brighton and do a little sightseeing.

It was too early in the morning and the Brighton Pier was still closed, but I managed to go for a walk around the beach and take some photos. I then went into the city to explore some more and went to the Royal Pavillion, which was built as a castle. The architecture of the pavillion reminded me of the domes you sometimes see at mosques and I thought that maybe there might have been some Arabic or Egyptian influence.

I also went for a walk around the Lanes, which is were many shops are found although most of them were still closed as I was out really early in the morning. I went back to the hotel for a break before heading out again, as I wanted to have a look at some of the shops. I ended up buying some nice things but didn't get much 'cos it was all too expensive.

It was just a beautiful day that morning. The sky was blue and it was nice and sunny. I checked out and walked to the train station to head back to Heathrow and the closer to London we got, the more grey the sky became. Haha. London and its crappy weather. I'd been to London before but don't remember it being as chaotic as it was.

By the time I got to Heathrow, the airport staff made us wait in the queue forever and when I finally checked in, I was told that the flight was delayed. I spent most of my day idling around in Heathrow Airport. All I wanted to do was sleep 'cos I was so jet-lagged but didn't dare doze off for fear that someone would steal my bag! I eventually made it out of Heathrow (urgh) and the minute I got into my seat on the plane, I just passed out. I was asleep for most of the flight, all the way to Singapore...