Chee Kin in Sydney!

Remember the dance party I attended? Yes, the one that had me going home at 4:30am and sleeping at 5:30am. Guess what? I slept for a total of 3 hours and had to dash to Darling Harbour to meet a very important person - Mr. Fong Chee Kin!

You might be wondering who this person is. If you're not interested in my version, click on his name on the right and that will lead you to his lovely star-themed blog. But if you are too lazy to click the mouse button, here is my intro of this fine young lad:

I first got to know Chee Kin 14 years ago. At that time, he was probably as tall as my waist. He was an obedient and intelligent young boy with good manners and a helpful disposition. Occasionally, tempers would flare when his spelling results weren't as good as Jie Hui, Yi You or Li Xin's. He took very good care of his younger brother, Chee Seng. I especially remember the time I taught him some songs and a dance. His dance partner was Li Xin for the concert the year they were graduating and they made a really good pair! He also sang in my choir. I would have to say that out of all my students, he was one of the few that made quite an impact. And then, we lost touch...

Many people say that the internet is a God-sent. I would have to agree because it helped reconnect Chee Kin and I. It was through Friendster that I found him and we started to correspond. Alright, he's not the best when it comes to replying MSN messages but at least, we are in touch now. Imagine how excited I was when he told me that he would be coming over to Sydney!

Well, I guess I wasn't as excited as he was to be flying on the new A380. Yes, he's a plane maniac and no prizes for guessing that he wants to be a pilot.

During his time here in Sydney, his dad and he stayed at the serviced apartment directly opposite Xin Wen's old place. I think it was called Maestri Tower or something along that line. So, I was their tour guide for 3 days and I started it off with a hearty breakfast at Pancakes on the Rock. As it was a Saturday, the market was open and Uncle had a nice time looking at the bric-a-bric that were sold. And oh, we just had to take a picture since it's been such a long time since we met!

After that, we walked up to the Harbour Bridge to climb one of the pylons. Check out the view:

From there, we walked back down to Circular Quay where they had to confirm their day trip to the Blue Mountains. And how can you not take a picture of the coat hanger when you visit Sydney?

Of course, from there onwards would be the famous Opera House, which to Chee Kin (and myself) was more normal than fantastic.

I then brought them into the Royal Botanical Gardens to see the flying foxes hanging upside-down on the trees before heading down to Woolloomoolloo for some famous Harry de Wheel hotdogs.

Rest assured that I brought them to all the landmarks in Sydney - QVB, Town Hall, Chinatown, Paddy's Market, the University of Sydney, Sydney Fish Market, Chinese Friendship Garden, St. Mary's Cathedral, Hyde Park. I will not dwelve into details because firstly, I don't remember them very clearly anymore and secondly, I'm too freaking lazy to type them all out. But, I can tell you that I even drove them to Bondi Junction and Bondi Beach. Chee Kin was thrilled to buy himself a Quiksilver (or was it a Billabong?) sweater. Yes, I know what you mean when you say that the air-conditioning in Taylor's is cold. Oh, and Bondi Beach was where they had a taste of heaven - the world-famous Pork Ribs of Hurricane!

All in all, it was terrific to be able to just meet up with Chee Kin again. I hope you enjoyed yourself, dude. I know I enjoyed myself immensely!

Next time, bring Jie Hui along!

Audrey in Sydney (Episode 1)

Day 1:

I followed Shaun to his practical exam in uni and waited for him to finish so that we could head over to the domestic terminal together to welcome Auds to Sydney. She gave us the wrong time (or I remembered the wrong time) so we actually waited for more than an hour for her and we were worried she got kidnapped or something. She is small enough to fit into a luggage bag, I reckon.

We brought her home, which she nicknamed our mansion. Haha, she's another victim of our 3-flight staircase. More casualties next month! But she thinks that it's good as it helps burn that little bit more fat. Haha.. What did we do? Nothing much, as far as I can remember (Auds, if you're reading this, please remind me of what we did!). We slept really late because I was making her guess which Disney cartoon my songs were from. Lousy la you, Auds, you could only recognise songs from Aladdin and the Lion King, sigh.

Day 2:

We said that we'd get up earlier to catch a Sydney Explorer bus. In the end, we did not because I only managed to get up at around 10. Sigh, such a let down. So, we looked at our plan again and set out to have lunch at Pancakes on the Rocks and then explore the areas around there for the day. We took the train to Circular Quay and Auds started snapping away! The Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, the seagulls, everything! Unfortunately, we couldn't wait to attack the food that forgotten to take pictures of them! Gluttons! She ended up taking a picture of the menu.


We walked about in the Rocks Arcade. Auds bought a purple ducky candle. Auds has a thing for purple. As it was drizzling, we decided to look at things that had a roof above. We went into the Rocks Discovery Museum, which does not require an entrance fee but it is up to you to donate a gold coin or two. Very interesting place and super hi-tech! You come out of the place having a better understanding of how the Rocks became what it is today. We then went upstairs to the Information Centre and that is where we bought some souvenirs for ourselves. I bought myself a Buddy Bear t-shirt and 2 Buddy Bear postcards. Auds also bought 2 postcards and a World Cup edition of a Buddy Bear figurine. She bought the Spain one - no prizes for guessing which team she supports. We picked up brochures and asked about the Ghost Tour. If you do a Google search on it, you'd even be able to look at video clips of this tour. Spookiness to the max!


We headed outdoors when the rain let up. Walked down Argyle Lane and Auds took a picture of Biggles. Now, I don't know the significance of Biggles but I DID READ THE PLAQUE! I just don't remember what I read...

Anyways, we looked around for a way to get onto the Harbour Bridge because we wanted to do the Pylon Climb. I mean, instead of paying 200 buckeroos to climb the Bridge, I'd rather pay $8 to climb the Pylon to see the same view. And the view, I'd have to say is absolutely breathtaking. The 200 steps did not deter us one bit. Come on, 200 steps only ok. It's not like Batu Caves. Er, how many steps does Batu Caves have ah?


We headed back to Circular Quay and along the way, we chanced upon a shop selling buttons. All sorts of buttons! Big, small, tiny, huge, exotic, cute, ugly, shiny, dull, you name it! I bought Auds a pack of 8 doggie buttons as a birthday present. I wonder if she's already framed them up...


I took her to Customs House to have a look at the' underground model' of the Sydney CBD. Oh, and also to rest our feet for a while. Of course, when you are in Sydney, the Opera House is a must. To the Sydneysiders. They resemble sails of a ship. To me (and my mum and grandma), they resemble cockle shells. Along the way, I pointed out the different tiles that signified the Quay's past shorelines.


We walked over to the Botanical Gardens as I wanted her to see the flying foxes sleeping high up in the trees. I then told her the joke of what Shaun misheard his dad said. Uncle said, "They look very vicious". But, Shaun misheard and reacted this way: "Huh? What? You think they are delicious??!!!??!" Yup, left all of us in stitches.

We stopped in Woolloomoolloo for hotdogs and we attempted the very steep and long staircase that leads up to King Cross. Xin Wen then called to confirm that we could join her for dinner. And she also said the Jona would be joining us, much to Auds' delight. We walked all the way from King Cross back to Pitt Street. It was a VERY long walk but well worth it. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant nearby and then headed over to Starbucks for some coffee.


The day ended very late for us. We took the 11:15pm express back home. We slept very well that night.