One day of fun was not enough!

Wahaha, I think God is very kind to me because he obviously felt one day of catching up was not enough hence decided to play a trick and made my friends who visited me from Brunei stayed for an extra day~

It was Sunday morning.. we were all exhausted from all the fun and activities we had on previous day.. SJ, Suan and the rest were supposed to leave by shuttle at 8am. Daylight saving started on that very same day so having one hour less did not help at all. So reasonably, they slept in! Haha.. I have never seen them gotten ready in such a short time. They were all ready in less than 30min and left in a hurry; after quick bear hugs and brief good byes.

SJ took this photo and I think it is very 'real' ^^

I went back to sleep thinking I would fully make use of my Sunday by having a good sleep in.. just as I was about to hit the dreamland.. my hp rang. "Hello Yeen ah, we are not going to Clyde today because apparently it's happening tomorrow. Can you come and pick us up?"

Therefore, ended up spending another day together. Did some shopping and they decided to drive all the way to the very end of Peninsula to see the penguins. I did not join as I had to work during that time. However, I managed to have dinner with them at the Lone Star.



We shared a Jack Daniel Chocolate Pudding for dessert. Tasted good and toothachingly sweet.


They came back to my place after dinner and we girls ended up chatting in the room until 1am. That was the best part of the visit as I finally got to really catch up with them~

Next day.. they left. This time for real...

As for me, I had to start packing as that was the night I began my next awesome journey - trip to Perth! :)

Guests from Brunei

My best friends visited Dunedin 2 weeks ago. It was a very happy day for me as I haven't seen one of them for almost 2 years now and it felt wonderful to meet my good friends in a different country and showed them around the place I spent most of my last decade in.They, together with 3 other friends arrived at about 10am on the Saturday morning. They rented a car but I decided one day is too precious for me and I didn't want to waste it in any way so I still went to pick them up from the airport.

The schedule was pretty full and they did not waste a single moment mucking around. Straight after the pickup, we went to the Esplanade for brunch (also to give them a chance to see the beach). To save time, we had gourmet pizzas as we were running late for the Speights brewery tour.


Seafood pizza and us in action trying to look cool @_@"


We managed to get to the brewery in time. Speights (pronounced as "Spayts") is the most popular South New Zealand beer and the main factory is situated in Dunedin. There are factories scattered around New Zealand but the tour guide claimed that the beer made from Otago tastes different because they have better tasting water here. I have never fancied beer too much so I couldn't quite tell the difference. My thinking is - as long as it gets me tipsy - it's good beer.

Towards the end of the tour, we were led into the tap bar where we got to taste all the 6 different kinds of beer they produce - from lager to dark ale.

Picture with James Speights - the founder of Speights


"Yum Seng" using the most popular Speights gold medal ale.

After the tour, we went to the former 'World's steepest street" (apparently now taken over by a street in the US). It was still pretty impressive though as it's almost 45 degrees steep. SJ and friends had a good time walking/running up and down the street while worrying they might tip and tumble downhill due to the steepness and difficulty in achieving balance.



We then toured around my University before they went off to the Peninsula by themselves while I quickly stole a short nap at home.

Dinner was done at my place. I have a fierce and strong passion towards Korean BBQ and had just recently bought a proper BBQ hot plate just to fulfill my cravings. Of course, it was the best opportunity to do it when they were here. I felt it would be better for them too as I figured they would be too exhausted by then after a long flight and lack of sleep. They were nice to get some liquor from the duty free shop. It was really fun as we got to feast, drink and catch up at the same time.




Pork belly is my favourite although I could sense my blood vessels clogging up and my butt grew larger by 1 inch the next day after I ate them. Oh well, I decided to disregard the feeling of guilt and will still eat them..

They fell asleep one by one after dinner as they were defeated by sleepiness and the fun-filled day officially ended at 12am.

A heart touching story..

A sad story forwarded to me. It made me cry.. hope the story would touch your heart as well~ :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A fatal misunderstanding and the person who love me the most in this world is gone forever.
This is a true story, taken from 'Family' (dictated by LD, edited by LSX, translated by SaFe).

Cruel misunderstandings one after another disrupted the blissful footsteps to our family. Our original intend of having Mother enjoy some quiet and peaceful moments in her remaining years with us went terribly wrong as destiny's secret is finally revealed at a price, everything became too late.

Just two years after our marriage, hubby brought up the idea of asking Mother to move from the rural hometown and spend her remaining years with us. Hubby's father passed away while he was still very young. Mother endured much hardship and struggled all on her own to provide for him, see him through to a university degree. You could say that she suffered a great deal and did everything you could expect of a woman to bring hubby to where he is today. I immediately agreed and started packing the spare room, which had a balcony facing the South to let her enjoy the sunshine and plant some greenery.

Hubby stood in the bright room, and suddenly just picked me up and started spinning round and round. As I begged him to put me down, he said: 'Let's go fetch mother.' Hubby is tall and big sized and I love to rest on his chest and enjoy the feeling that he could pick me up at any moment put tiny me into his pockets. Whenever we have an argument and both of us refuse to back down, he would pick me up and spin me over his head continuously until I surrender and beg for mercy. I became addicted to this kind of panic-joy feeling.

Mother brought along her countryside habits and lifestyle with her. For example; I am so used to buying flowers to decorate the living room, she could not stand it and would comment: 'I do not know how you young people spend your money, why do you buy flowers for? You also can't eat the flowers!' I smiled and said: 'Mum! , with flowers in the house, our mood will also become better.' Mother continues to grumble away, and hubby smiled: 'Mum, this is a city-people's habit; slowly you will get use to it."

Mother stopped saying anything. But every time thereafter, whenever I came home with flowers, she would ask me how much it costs. I told her and she would shake her head and express displeasure. Sometimes, when I come home with lots of shopping bags, she would ask each and every item how much they cost, I would tell her honestly and she would get even more upset about it. Hubby playfully pinched my nose and said: 'You little fool, just don't tell her the full price of everything would solve it.' There begins the friction to our otherwise happy lifestyle.

Mother hates it most when hubby wakes up early to prepare the breakfast. In her view, how could the man of the house cook for the wife? At the breakfast table, mother's facial expression is always like the dark clouds before a thunderstorm and I would pretend not to notice. She would use her chopsticks and make a lot of noise with it as her silent protest. As I am a dance teacher in the Children's Palace and is exhausted from a long day of dancing around, I do not wish to give up the luxury of that additional few minutes in the comfort of my bed and hence I turned a deaf ear to all the protest mother makes.

From time to time, mother would help out with some housework, but soon her help created additional work for me. For example: she would keep all kinds of plastic bags, accumulating them so that she sell them later on, and that resulted in our house being filled with all the trash bags; she would scrimp on dish washing detergent when helping to wash the dishes and so as not to hurt her feelings, I would quietly wash they again.

One day, late at night, mother saw me quietly washing the dishes, and 'Bam' she slams her bedroom door and cried very loudly in her room. Hubby was placed in a difficult position, and after that, he did not speak to me for that entire night. I pretended to be a spoilt child, tried acting cute, but he totally ignored me. I got mad and asked him: 'What did I do wrong?' Hubby stared at me and said: 'Can't you just give in to her once? We couldn't possibly die eating from a bowl however unclean it is, right?'

After that incident, for a long period of time, mother did not speak to me and you can feel that there is a very awkward feeling hanging in the house. During that period of cold war, hubby was caught in dilemma as to who to please. In order to stop her son from having to prepare breakfast, mother took on the 'all important' task of preparing breakfast without any prompting. At the breakfast table, mother would look at hubby happily eating his breakfast and cast that reprimanding stare at me for having failed to perform my duty as a wife. To avoid the embarrassing breakfast situation, I resorted to buying my own breakfast on my way to work.

That night, while in bed, hubby was a little upset and asked me: 'LD, is it because you think that mum's cooking is not clean that's why you chose not to eat at home?' He then turned his back on me and left me alone in tears as feeling of unfairness overwhelmed me. After some time, hubby sighed: 'LD, just for me, can you have breakfast at home?' I am left with no choice but to return to the breakfast table.

The next morning, I was having porridge prepared by mother and I felt a sudden churn in my stomach and everything inside seem to be rushing up my throat. I tried to suppress the urge to throw up but I couldn't. I threw down the bowl and rushed into the washroom and vomited everything out.

Just as I was catching my breath, I saw mother crying and grumbling very loudly in her dialect, hubby was standing at the washroom doorway staring at me with fire burning in his eyes. I opened my mouth but no words came out of it, I really didn't mean it. We had our very first big fight that day; mother took a look at us, then stood up and slowly made her way out of the house. Hubby gave me a final stare in the eye and followed mother down the stairs. For three days, hubby did not return home, not even a phone call. I was so furious, since mother arrived; I had been trying my best and putting up with her, what else do you want me to do? For no reason, I keep having the feeling to throw up and I simply have not appetite for food, coupled with all the events happening at home, I was at the low point in my life. Finally, a colleague said: 'LD, you look terrible, you should go and see a doctor.'

The doctor confirmed that I am pregnant. Now it became clear to me why I threw up that fateful morning, a sense of sadness floated through that otherwise happy news. Why didn't hubby, and mother who had been through this before, thought of the possibility of this being the reason that day?

At the hospital entrance, I saw my hubby standing there. It had only been three days, but he looked haggard. I had wanted to turn and leave, but one look at him and my heart soften, I couldn't resist and called out to him. He followed my voice and finally found me but he pretended that he doesn't know me; he has that disgusted look in his eyes that cut right through my heart. I told myself not to look at him anymore, and hail a cab.

At that moment, I have such a strong urge inside me to shout to my hubby: 'Darling, I am having your baby!' and have him lift me up and spin me round in circles of joy. That didn't happen and as I sat in the cab, my tears started rolling down. Why? Why our love couldn't even withstand the test of one fight? Back home, I lay on the bed thinking about my hubby, and the disgusted look in his eyes. I cried and wet the corner of the blanket. That night, sound of the drawers opening woke me up. I switched on the lights and I saw hubby with tears rolling down his face. He was removing the money. I stared at him in silence; he ignored me, took the bank deposit book and some money and left the house. Maybe he really intends to leave me for good. What a rational man, so clear-cut in love and money matters. I gave a few dry laughs and tears starting streaming down again.

The next day, I did not go to work. I wanted to clear this out and have a good talk with hubby. I reached his office and his secretary gave me a weird look and said: 'Mr Tan's mother had a traffic accident and is now in the hospital.' I stood there in shock. I rushed to the hospital and by the time I found hubby, mother had already passed away. Hubby did not look at me, his face was expressionless.

I looked at mother's pale white and thin face and I couldn't control the tears in my eyes. My god, how could this happen? Throughout the funeral, hubby did not say a single word to me, with only the occasional disgusted stare at me. I only managed to find out brief facts about the accident from other people. That day, after mother left the house, she walked in daze toward the bus stop, apparently intending to go back to her old house back in the countryside. As hubby ran after her, she tried to walk faster and as she tried to cross the street, a public bus came and hit her...

I finally understood how much hubby must hate me, if I had not thrown up that morning, if we had not quarreled, If...

In his heart, I am indirectly the killer of his mother.

Hubby moved into mother's room and came home every night with a strong liquor smell on him. And me, I am buried under the guilt and self pity and could hardly breathe. I wanted to explain to him, tell him that we are going to have our baby soon, but each time, I saw the dead look in his eyes, all the words I have at the brink of my mouth just fell back in. I had rather he hit me real hard or give me a big and thorough scolding though none of these events happening had been my fault at all. Many days of suffocating silence went by and as the days went by, hubby came home later and later. The deadlock between us continues, we were living together like strangers who don't know each other. I am like the dead knot in his heart..

One day, I passed by a western restaurant, looking into the glass window, I saw hubby and a girl sitting facing each other and he very lightly brushed her hair for her, I understood what it meant. After recovering from that moment of shock, I entered the restaurant, stood in front of my hubby and stared hard at him, not a tear in my eyes. I have nothing to say to him, and there is no need to say anything. The girl looked at me, looks at hubby, stands up and wanted to go, hubby stretched out his hand and stopped her. He stared back at me, challenging me. I can only hear my slow heartbeat, beating, one by one as if at the brink of death. I eventually backed down, if I had stood that any longer, I will collapse together with the baby inside me.

That night, he did not come home, he had chosen to use that as a way to indicate to me: Following mother's death, so did our love for each other. He did not come home anymore after that. Sometimes, when I returned home from work, I can tell that the cupboard had been touched - he had returned to take some of his stuff. I no longer wish to call him; the initial desire to explain everything to him vanished. I lived alone; I went to my medical checkups alone, my heart breaks again and again every time I see a guy carefully helping his wife through the physical examination. My office colleagues hinted to me to consider aborting the baby, I told them No, I will not. I insisted on having this baby, perhaps it is my way of repaying mother for causing her death.

One day, I came home and I saw hubby sitting in the living room. The whole house was filled with cigarette smoke. On the coffee table, there was this piece of paper. I know what it is all about without even looking at it. In the two months plus of living alone, I have gradually learned to find peace within myself. I looked at him, removed my hat and said: 'You wait a while, I will sign.' He looked at me, mixed feelings in his eyes, just like mine. As I hang up my coat, I keep repeating to myself 'You cannot cry, you cannot cry....'. I refused to let tears come out..

After I hung up my coat, hubby's eyes stared fixed at my bulging tummy. I smiled, walked over to the coffee table and pull a paper towards me. Without even looking at what it says, I signed my name on it and pushed the paper to him. 'LD, you are pregnant?'

Since mother's accident, this is the first time he spoke to me. I could not control my tears any further and they fell like raindrops. I said: 'Yes, but it's ok, you can leave now.' He did not go, in the dark, we sat, facing each other. Hubby slowly moved over me, his tears wet the blanket. In my heart, everything seems so far away, so far that even if I should sprint, I could never reach them. I cannot remember how many times he repeated 'sorry' to me, I had originally thought that I would forgive him, but now I can't. In the western restaurant, in front of that girl, that cold look in his eyes, I will never forget, ever. We have drawn such deep scar in each other's heart. For me, its unintentional; for him, totally intentional.

I had been waiting for this moment of reconciliation, but I realized now, what had gone past is gone forever and could not repeated! Other than the thought of the baby inside me that would bring some warmth to my heart, I am totally cold towards him, I no longer eat anything he buys for me, I don't take any presents from him and I stopped talking to him. From the moment I signed on that piece of paper, marriage and love had vanished from my heart.

Sometimes, hubby will try to come into the bedroom, but when he walks in, I will walk out to the living room. He had no choice but to sleep in mother's room. At night, from his room, I can hear light sounds of groaning, I kept quiet. This used to be his trick; last time, whenever I ignore him, he would fake illness and I will surrender and find out what is wrong with him and he would then grab me and laugh. He has forgotten that last time, I cared for him and am concerned because there is love, but now, what is there between us? Hubby's groaning came on and off continuing all the way till baby was born.

Almost every day, he would buy something for the baby, infant products, children products and books that kids like to read. Bags and bags of it stacked inside his room till it is full.. I know he is trying to use this to reach out to me, but I am no longer moved by his actions. He has no choice but to lock himself in his room and I can hear his typing away on his computer keyboard, maybe he is now addicted to web surfing, but none of that matters to me anymore.

It was sometime towards the end of spring in the following year, one late night, I screamed because of a sudden stomach pain, hubby came rushing into the room, its like he did not change and sleep, and had been waiting for this moment. He carried me and ran down the stairs, stopped a car, holding my hand very tightly and kept wiping the sweat off my brown, throughout the journey to the hospital. Once we reached the hospital, he carried me and hurried into the delivery suite. Laying my back of his skinny but warm body, a thought crossed my mind: In my lifetime, who else would love me as much as he did?

He held the delivery suite door opened and watch me go in, his warm eyes caused me to managed a smile at him despite my contraction pain. Coming out of the delivery room, he looked at our son and me, his eyes teared with joy and he kept smiling. I reached out and touched his hand. Hubby looked at me, smiling and then he slowly collapsed onto the floor. I cried out for him in pain... He smiled, but without opening that tired eyes of his... I had thought that I would never shed any tear for him, but the truth is, I have never felt a deeper pain cutting through my body at that moment. The doctor said that by the time hubby discovered he had liver cancer, it was already in terminal stage and it was a miracle that he managed to last this long. I asked the doctor when did he first discover he had cancer? Doctor said about 5 months ago and consoled me saying: 'Prepare for his funeral.'

I disregarded the nurse's objection and rushed home, I went into his room and checked his computer, and a suffocating pain hits me. Hubby's cancer was discovered 5 months ago, his groaning was real, and I had thought that... the computer showed over 200,000 words he wrote for our son: 'Son, just for you, I have persisted, to be able to take a look at you before I fall, is my biggest wish now... I know that in your life, you will have many happiness and maybe some setbacks, if only I can accompany you throughout that journey, how nice would it be. But daddy now no longer has that chance.. Daddy has written inside here all the possible difficulties and problems you may encounter during your lifetime, when you meet with these problems, you can refer to daddy's suggestion... Son, after writing these 200,000 words, I feel as if I have accompanied you through your life's journey. To be honest, daddy is very happy. Do love your mother, she has suffered, she is the one who loves you most and also the one who loves me most...'

From play school to primary school, to secondary, university, to work and even in dealing with questions of love, everything big and small was written there. Hubby has also written a letter for me:
'My dear, to marry you is my biggest happiness, forgive me for the pain I caused you, forgive me for not telling you my illness, because I want to see you be in a joyful mood waiting for the arrival of our baby... My dear, if you cried, it means that you have forgiven me and I would smile, thank you for loving me... These presents, I'm afraid I cannot give them to our son personally, could you help me to give some of them to him every year, the dates on what to give when are all written on the packaging...'

Going back to the hospital, hubby is still in coma. I brought our son over and place him beside him. I said: 'Open your eyes and smile, I want our son to remember being in the warmth of your arms...'

He struggled to open his eyes and managed a weak smile. Our son still in his arms was happily waving his tiny hands in the air. I press the button on the camera and the sound of the shutter rang thought the air as tears slowly rolled down my face...

My NZDSA T-shirt

NZDSA (New Zealand Dental Student Association) T-shirts were finally being given out to its members... I love the design. Think the design is very creative. Not only that, it fulfils the current long T-shirt fashion trend. I like~~

(LA = Local Anesthetic)

The New Taiwanese Restaurant - Asian Delight~

A new taiwanese restaurant was opened 2 weeks ago about 10meter from the central library. A friend introduced it to me and since then it is the restaurant I most frequently visit. The food~ I wouldn't say is great but with the price and serving size taken into consideration - it becomes better than OK. The owners aim to serve foods that are high in nutritional values and hope to provide us students with balanced diet. It certainly is very balanced. Moreover, it tastes so much like home cooked food and the lady owner is so mummy like... reminds me of Taiwan everytime I go there.

My favourite dish = Pork chop with rice. Huge serving at a cost of $7.50.

$6.50 curry chicken on rice - not as good as the pork chop with rice.

1 thing I really like about the place is - for every $6.50 and above, we get a free dessert ^^ My favourite is the wheel cake (comes in different fillings like red bean paste, taro, custard and also has savoury fillings such as tuna, turnip etc) but not available all the time.

To promote the newly opened restaurant, the owners decided to hold a $1 dinner for first 50 customers yesterday. Being the 'Kiasu' me (and a few other friends) - we arrived at the restaurant 10minutes before it opened. And wooww.. apparently there were MORE kiasu people than ourselves. By 5pm, the queue has already reached the street outside the shop.

There were a few choices available: minced beef, vegetarian mince, curry chicken, stew beef and mapo tofu; on rice / noodles. They didn't allow us to choose what we would like but rather they served them at random turns and we had to just take whatever we were being offered.

When it was my turn - I got chicken curry on noodle. It was much smaller serving than what we expected but for a $1 meal, it's not too bad.

Too hungry, just gobbled the whole plate of food - then remembered I should have taken some photos before I got lost in the urge of filling up my tummy.. nevermind, still get to see the empty plates hehe.

Anyways, it didnt really fill me up so I went and bought some greasy fish and chips to complete my Saturday eat out experience.

My freezing cold Saturday~

It was a freezing day yesterday. It snowed for almost a whole day. However, the snow didn't settle because it was too wet, which was quite a pity as I would love to play with the snow a bit.

However, I felt very grateful that I had a warm shelter. Most times like this, I usually imagine people who are broke and have to live under the bridge or park.. then I tell myself, how lucky I am :)

Photo taken from inside the library while I was working in the morning.. very wet and it was VERY windy. The bl**dy wind broke my umbrella... again! I lost so many umbrellas because of the strong wind in Dunedin and the record was - opened the umbrella - the wind broke it in 3 seconds (and it was my most favorite polka dot umbrella which I bought from Brunei - then brought it back to Malaysia - then forgot to bring to NZ - then finally brought it with me to NZ during the following holiday, used it on a windy, rainy day and in less than 3 seconds - BROKEN!! THEN I had to walk in the rain......)

Well, at least this umbrella has served me 2 times before it broke yesterday.. T_T

Snapshot of the weather forecast on my cellphone (and also to show off my new LV themed wallpaper wahaha)

This is the place I spent my whole Saturday afternoon in. It is one of the Biomaterial labs at school and I was there working on my research project. Not the flashest place to be in on a weekend day but then, it kept me dry and warm ^^

Snapshot of the 'scenery' I got to enjoy when I was at the lab.

I really enjoyed my evening later on as I went to the cinema and watched Hancock. Feel it was time and money well-spent. Highly recommended as it was very witty and different from the usual 'superhero' movie storyline. Thumbs up for this one!

Shopping Spree~

Kathmandu's on sale! Well, in general, Kathmandu goes on sale many times a year.. but, this time it is DIFFERENT because EVERYTHING is at least 40% off.

Kathmandu is definitely not my favorite brand for fashion. However, it sells some really awesome and creative accessories for traveling. So, this time, with almost everything 50 - 60% off, I shopped and bought like mad.. yes it was madness indeed..

I spent about NZD200 in 2 days!! @_@" (feeling very guilty now~)



Bags of goodies...



Ok, not all are for myself.. some of them are for my parents and friend.. The accessories are: packing cells (to compartmentalize clothes and underwear etc) (Green and black), toiletries bags (Black and mint), Microfibre towels (2 X-large and 1 medium, very compact and light), foldable indoor slippers, shoes bags (green-gray and blue-gray), snooze pillow, anti-dvt socks and luggage tag.




My new shoe bag.. I love it! I tried using and I think can at least squeeze in 2 pairs of shoes..




This is my favorite! Toiletries bag. The best thing about this bag is it has many small sleeves / pockets which can carry bottles and sort them out nicely and neatly. Also, the sleeves prevent the bottles from falling all around.









The cutest thing I bought from Kathmandu - luggage tag with cartoon of a sheep :):)