Mini high school reunion in Perth

The gatherings with my high school friends are perhaps the best parts of my Perth trip!

The first person whom I met up with was CY ^^ It was such a happy moment when I saw him at the car park of Trinity college. Seeing CY warmed my heart instantly. It felt so comfortable and felt like it was just yesterday when we saw each other; when in actual fact, it was ~6 years and in between the time, we hardly kept in touch at all.

He then sent me to YP's place to drop off my luggages. Seeing YP - another heart warming moment.. T_T tears on the verge of rolling down just thinking about it.

We decided to have dinner at the Italian restaurant CY recommended. It does not take bookings hence it's a first come first served basis. And holy mama... it was a long, long queue when we got there! According to CY, it's very normal to queue up for foods at that restaurant. We waited for 40min before we were being led to our table.. *_*"



Outside the restaurant waiting for our turn to be seated..

Ciao Italia = the name of the restaurant





The pizzas were awesome!!!

It was a very relaxing and fun night. We did A LOT of catching up!! Thank you for the wonderful dinner guys~

PA could not make it that night but she made a very big effort to meet up the next day at Zanders - a cafe right beside the Scarborough beach. Felt very touched actually T_T. Thank you for showing up because I really had a wonderful time although it was too short though.. would be better if we got to hang out for longer :)


Us at Zanders.

PA and her sexy, luxurious new convertible. Congratulations on your promotion again!! And I like your car.. *salivate*

And of course.. how could I not meet up with IL?! YP drove me to her place that afternoon just so we could meet up as IL was not feeling very well. Once again, we chat chat chat.. laugh laugh laugh..chatted somemore.. giggled more...

Congratulations to you and your hubby again (newly weds)!!

That night, before I left; CY and his fiance, IL and her hubby dropped by YP's place for dinner and followed by my new obsession - Wii!! It's so fun! Thank you for introducing it to me YP ^^



Me - all focused on walking on a rope and staying well-balanced.. but alas.. I was always the one with the lowest score. I blame it on the wine ^_^

Don't you think IL and her hubby look very compatible???

AW, CY and his fiance.

My last day in Perth flew by and ended in a blink of an eye and it was time to say goodbye.

CY = Thanks for sending me to the airport and calling me after I arrived in NZ. Most of all, congratulations on your imminent wedding!!! I feel so happy for you!

YP and AW = Thank you sooo much for your kind hospitality. I really had a lot of fun with you two around. Thanks for taking me around Perth too!

IL = Thank you for having me and YP at your place and making the effort to drop by YP's place as well as played Wii haha

PA = Thank you for the wonderful gathering at Zanders. It was so nice to meet up again after so many years!

Lastly, Perth - I WILL BE BACK~

Brief glimpse of Perth

I managed to visit the few main tourist areas while I was in Perth such as the city (of course), Northbridge (China town), Subiaco, Freemantle and King's park. Also managed to pass by popular beaches such as Scarborough and Cottlesloe - beautiful indeed.



Photo taken outside Curtin University (city campus). According to a friend, it has another campus outside of city.

I was told there is a bakery that is famous for its apple strudel and it's situated on Victoria Street in the city centre. Me and another friend wandered around city in the hunt for the bakery then to realise it's actually in Northbridge. During the hunt, we stumbled upon a bakery owned by Vietnameses and we went in to ask if it was the famous bakery (being naive). Hah, the owner did not say yes but told us MANY Singaporeans go a long way to bring home their apple strudels. Desperate for the strudel, we decided to give it a go..


I did not order apple but vanilla custard strudel instead. Each strudel costs AUD2.80 and oh my mama - look at the size! I also had half of their rum truffle because it looked so gigantic and yummy.



Taking the first bite with excitement and great anticipation~


My look reveals the quality of taste..




I then went roaming around city aimlessly after realising the famous strudel is not within walking distance. Yeen pretending to be a kangaroo.


Cheeky Yeen~






My first musical experience - The Beauty and the Beast! Produced by Disneyland. It was awesome and I had lots of fun watching and listening to their beautiful lyrics and powerful singings. My heart melted when the beast fell in love with Belle..until the Beast turned back into the prince.. We all share the same verdict - The beast looks better than the Prince..




During break time, I found this very thoughtful room beside the washroom~ Perfect for a theatre!

Determined to try the apple strudel (fine, my whole trip pretty much revolved around it) - I made a visit the NorthBridge the next day.

AC told me I should try the chinese foods there; especially those hiding in the little streets off main street. The foods were meant to be delicious and cheap.


I did. Found an area with hawker stalls off the main Northbridge street and decided to have a go at their DimSum. My opinion = not fantastic. The Siu Mai was good but the rice noodle of their Cheong Fan was too thick. Felt like eating flour with intermittent taste of prawn and soya sauce.


Ohhh wahahahaha - I finally fulfilled my purpose to Perth. I found the Apple Strudel! The bakery's name is Corica. Apparently the baker who makes the pastry has moved to another bakery called 'Love bite'. I couldn't find that bakery but that's ok because I think the pastry from Corica should be just as good. I thought they were going to sell it in small pieces like the AUD2.80 one I tried. But holy mama, the only size that they have was a half a meter long (ok, exaggerated a bit here) apple strudel that costs AUD16.80!



Still had to buy regardless.. Hmm hmm.. the sales ladies at the bakery were pretty rude though - impatient and were not very helpful. But the strudel - excellent!

I reckon Freemantle is perhaps one of the most popular places in Perth. Everywhere I went and everyone I spoke to had recommended me to make a visit to that place. It's slightly further than all the other places I have been to and took me about 1 hour one way to bus there.


Freemantle has lots of beautiful and unique architecture. It gives me an impression that it is an old town but on observation, all the buildings are well-maintained .



Saw this outside the main entrance of freemantle market. Thought it's interesting. Had an urge to try the herbal drugs but was too coward to put my thought into action haha.


Inside the market..

There is a seafood store right at the entrance and it is linked to a fish and chips restaurant. With an extra AUD6, we could order the seafoods we want to eat and the chef next door would cook them for us. Chips and salad come with the AUD6.


Fresh oyster with lemon juice - Yuuumm!



I had Rainbow trout pan fried with olive oil, herbs and pepper, deep fried baby octopuses and a baby sardine. On top of that, I also ordered bubble milk tea and tako balls. A very tummy satisfying session.


After the fattening meal, I decided to take a walk in the King's Park - a well maintained botanic garden with hundreds of different wild flowers species. It's about 400 hectares big and overlooks the city of Perth and Swan River.


After the quick walk - it was time to meet up with my bunch of high school friends.. something I have been looking forward to since I knew I was going to Perth!

IADR Conference

The IADR conference started on 1st Oct at 1pm. Because of jet lag, we all woke up at about 7am @_@. We had heaps of time on our hands being the early birds hence we took our sweet time getting ready and did a bit more preparation for the poster presentation.

University of Otago's student representatives at their most 'presentable' appearances and lugging their posters everywhere they went. We had done well - we guarded our posters with our lives. "If poster dies - I die" *shiver*


All from University of Otago - 5 students, one professor and one lecturer.


Mock Poster presentation competition.

After we got to the venue, we found out the poster competition was postponed to the next day. We then attended a part of the welcome talk as well as a few research presentations; followed by sneaking away..... to roam around Perth city.

That very evening, the conference held a welcome function at the Dental department of the University. Was told that they serve very good food every year... how could I miss that?! Moreover, I made sure I went there with VERY empty stomach hohoho.. Wanted to take photos of the finger foods but felt it was too embarrasing.

Bird's view of participants of the conference from 1st floor of dental school..

Me and another Malaysian schoolmate then wandered away hoping to catch a brief glimpse of the clinics and laboratories (we were told all the rooms were locked by then and we wouldn't be able to see anything). But god was once again kind to us! According to my schoolmate, I managed to 'charm' the security / cleaner to open all the doors for us haha. Well, it didn't need much except to be nice, smiley with a blend of sweet talks.. somehow don't know how, he was very happy and decided to open every single door and turn on every single light for us to have a good thorough look at the learning equipments and environment. Not only that, he was happy for us to pose and take pictures like we were from the Uni!


Dental laboratory for the students. Not even do the students have their own seats, proper suction system to clean away the debris, own functioning burs... they even have their own compartments for storage of models etc! These people have no idea how lucky they are!


Simulation clinic with proper phantom heads! And every phantom head had a tongue!!!


We ended our first evening at the conference feeling a wee bit tipsy and followed by my first musical ever - The Beauty and the Beast! (Elaboration to follow)

The next few days were pretty similar with presentations after presentations. The most exciting parts were always the tea breaks. I looked forward to the foods everyday and made sure I had a lot because they were all so yummy!

The conference organizer arranged a formal dinner on the second day at the Matilda Bay restaurant not too distant from Trinity college. It was a very cosy restaurant with a perfect view of the bay and the yatches. I couldn't snap a view of the scenery as it was too dark but trust me - it was beautiful.

Photo of us before heading to the restaurant. Reminds me a quote from a wise friend (can't remeber who) - EVERY woman needs a little black dress in her wardrobe.

Working holiday in Perth 30th Sept - 5th Oct

I have been spending most of my summer holidays since 2005 doing researches for my school. I wouldn't consider myself to be passionate about researches although I don't think I repel the thought of being a part-time researcher.

One of the requirements for doing a summer studentship research for my school is I have to take part in a poster competition where I have to compete with my other fellow colleagues. The one with the best / most meaningful research will then have to represent New Zealand to compete with the Australians at the ANZ IADR conference.

I did not win any prize this year (or any previous years hehe). However, the school was extremely generous and decided to sponsor all of us who took part in the competition to attend the conference that was held in Perth this year. We found out about this great news early this year and the time finally arrived after all the preparations (we had to prepare a A0 size poster supplement to our presentation) and long wait.. I took off to Perth on the 30th Sept; last Tuesday.

As we were all given a fixed amount of money, I tried to cut on costs by taking a midnight shuttle leaving Dunedin on Monday evening 8:30pm. I arrived at Christchurch airport 3am the next day and waited for 2 hours before I could check in at the Pacific Blue airline counter. Including transiting time at Sydney airport, the journey totaled up to about 10hours. It was a good 10 hours though as I managed to get lots of sleep with the aid of motion sickness pill(s).

I was all excited about going to Perth especially at the thought of finally being able to enjoy some good long sunshine as well as get away from a place that requires me to wear layers of clothing just to stay warm. As I walked out of the airport after arrival, a wave of cool air welcomed me. It was just the right weather!! Not too hot and not too cold. Perhaps would be better if it was a little warmer but not having to put on my down jacket all the time - it was simply awesome!

Quickly hopped into a cab, I headed straight to the Trinity college - McDonald court. It's a hall of residence for the students of University of Western Australia (UWA) but it also has a few apartment units specially catered for visitors. Each self-contained unit consists of 2 bedrooms and therefore the unit was just right for all of us (5 in total).

At the main entrance of Trinity college.

Straight after unpacking, we wandered out hunting for food... and to my delight - Malaysian restaurant!! :):) Being the Penang Char Kway Teow lover, how could I resist the temptation?

The cook was from Penang so I had high expectation. Tasted good overall; however, if less salty - perfect.


My meaning of 'working holiday' - some work and lots of fun. Some work = the rest of my first day and part of second day were spent reading up on the background information for my research again so I could present it and attend to all questions smoothly..

Not as exciting of course...


Coming soon - more about the conference and my experiences in Perth.

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.