You gotta believe me when I say that we originally wanted to go somewhere else. And then while driving through that darkened stretch of Ampang, like a beacon of light, bright neon foretold our fate to be. Thai. Barbecue. Steamboat. All you can eat. Omaigad!

 

Saturday morning charity jam at a home for old folks and underprivileged children. Everyone joins in for an awesome Rasa Sayang finale. Feels like Malaysia to me.

 

FINALLYYYYYY…! Real dim sum! You know, with my discovery of Instagram, this blog is at risk of becoming a food blog. Was even thinking of putting a new blog category. We’ll see. Well, maybe this is just a phase. We’ll see.

 

Happy Year of The Dragon! Gong hei! Gong hei! It is not even evening and I am already hearing firecrackers. This is a good sign, aye? :D

 

Last lunch of the year. Yeah. The rice really is green and the chicken really is orange. Does not taste freaky as I thought it would. Chica who sold it could do with a smile on her face, tho.

 

Fever still comes and goes but yang paling irritating sekali is the cough which is really getting on my nerves. I am just really hoping that this spell passes by the time we head to the beach for the new year. *cross fingers*

 

A collection of snaps taken in the few hours here and there that I got to spend in downtown Brisbane (notice that a lot of Brisbane people wear stripes?)

 

Birds of Prey at Brisbane’s Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

 

With the committee members and some Ozzie natives

with co-members of the aoss project, randy and peter. missing everyone in that group actually.

groped cuddled by a koala.

if you guys look closely, there’s a joey in the roo’s pouch. its legs are sticking out.

 

On the first night of our Australian meeting, our hosts brought us to an Italian restaurant.

starters: bread cobb of the day (never found out what it is) with butter and olives

one of the mains options. pepper crusted beef fillet with creamed leeks, chick pea chips and brandy butter.

and this is what i had. crispy skin baramundi with cauliflower puree, fried oyster mushrooms, green pea foam and truffle oil.

my dessert. chocolate pudding, mascarpone and salted caramel.

the other dessert option: creme brulee, pears and milk sorbet.

with other meeting delegates, daddy oh and mommy oh.

old and new committee friends.

the group, plus plus.

 

G’day ya’ll, and this is me reporting from summer-come-early Brisbane!

… and of course, what absolutely HAD to happen on my very first day in australia…? my shoes tore to bits.

and i am not saying koyak sikit-sikit okay. i am saying that the sole decides to completely rip apart and the leather itself tears at the seams. the best part is that it did not happen gradually. oh no. the whole thing came down tsunami style on me. one minute, i am happily strolling through new park, the next minute, i am dragging my right foot to the closest park bench because my socks were walking on the street instead of my shoes!

now that was something. for one thing, the shoe was instantly unwearable. and i am not one of those freaks that carry around slippers or an extra pair of shoes masa keluar jalan-jalan ok. kalau ada pun, they would be in my suitcase in my hotel and not in my daypack. as reality has it, i was a good half and hour boat ride away from my hotel and alas, i did not have a spare pair of shoes in my suitcase. oh, and i need to go to work tomorrow and i can only imagine how my colleagues will look at me if i turn up in just socks or maybe even kaki ayam.

so macam mana, i dug every backpacker instinct i had in me, pulled off both my shoes and socks and walked barefoot into brisbane city center over to the queens street mall to get me a new pair of footwear.

i do not recommend walking barefeet. i am serious. while thousands of googleable sites will tell you how unhygenic and dangerous it is to walk barefeet in the city, i will tell you that it is just downright painful. selaga jenis batu that you can imagine finds its way under your feet not to mention whatever else that has been dropped, spilt or god forbid pooped has been splattered all over such streets that i am actually quite happy that i don’t know these things. plus, on a bright sunny day such as summer-come-early brisbane, the streets heat up and especially the parts of the street that are tiled, it becomes hot and extremely uncomfortable.

when i get to the street mall, the shoes are not only expensive, but i learn that the smallest size is a 6. now i am on the lower end of size 5. 5 and a half, at the most.

to shorten the story, i ended up with a pair of shoes (size 6, sigh).

i end this post with something the sales girl told me as i cashed in the shoes, “at least you can start your trip to australia with new shoes!”

 

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, folks!

 

Over homemade yogurt at a roadside cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, I spied on a local man enjoying Vietnam’s favourite pastime

traffic watching is a prime hobby here, not only for the fascinated foreigner, but also the amply humoured locals. they are either part of the spectacular performance, or a spectator of it all.

dining outlets capitalise on the spectacle by having all tables and chairs facing the streets so that patrons never need to miss a minute of the traffic. it is common to stroll by these outlets to see an exhibition of diners chewing on soupy noodles, slurping on fruit shakes and zombified by the buses, cars, motorcycles, cyclos, bicycles and pedestrians braving the streets of modern day Vietnam.

 

The Fisherboy

this is one of my most republished shots in magazines and i thought i’d share with you a link to the story behind the photo.

 

Must remember to put a diabetic warning for these honey cornflake cookies I just made. Syrup is so thick, it might as well be caramel!