Where I Am

Buddhist way of thinking

2010-04-06T17:30:00.003+10:00

To be honest, I'm probably not the best example of a Buddhist. I eat meat (who said a Buddhist has to be a vegetarian anyway), I seldom go to the temple, I don't pray, I sometimes don't remember the history of Buddhism and can't really tell people what it actually is. But I do know one thing, very important thing actually. Buddhism provides me with a choice to be happy and think happy thoughts.

Today, I lost a 10 dollar voucher which I got from participating an activity at university. I didn't expect to get it but I was happy to have it. I was so glad and I was going to use it but then I lost the voucher. I tried to look for it and couldn't find it anywhere and I feel really sad. The funny thing was, if I hadn't had it in the first place, I wouldn't have felt sad to lose it. It's funny how we sometimes suffer from losing things that we wouldn't have needed it anyway. And I think we do that a lot in our life. We grieve on the lost of things that might not be as important as we thought. I spent much of my afternoon mourning over this loss which is really quite a waste of time. I then realise that if I had adopted the way of thinking that things come and go and nothing stays forever just like I was taught during my Buddhism class then I might not have suffered so much over such a silly little thing. That's the moment of enlightenment for me.

For me, it doesn't matter what religion one hold but what matters is whether that system of believes provide the person with the way to be happy and think positive thoughts about life. I found that realising that what is my loss might be fortunate gain for other people and that can be a good thing (Tham boon). It might not be logical but it helps me to calm down and mourn less over the loss. I do agree with the Buddha when he said that people are sad because they suffers from the desire of holding on to things that are not forever.

Sometimes I do think that Buddhism makes people passive and lack of ambition to overcome challenge. What's the purpose of fighthing for something that you know it's not gonna last forever? But when it comes to deficult times of having to accept the loss, I think Buddhism is actually helping me to cope and see things positively which lift up my spirit to goes on without letting it affecting me too much.

So I am grateful that I have the choice to chose my believe and reflect upon it. That makes me more appreciative of what I have, my believe and who I am.

It's been a while

2010-04-02T08:48:00.003+10:00

Life takes you where you least expect it to go. This is my story....
During the past two years, I have learned enormous amount of life lessons, painful lessons that I have never thought it would or could happen to me. Yes, I was very naive in thinking that.

I was down, depressed, self-destructive and feeling ugly, anything negative one can possibly feel about oneself. And the worst is that I jump from one shattered heart into yet another battered heart. I allowed myself to do stupid things, shameful things and things that hurt myself and people who care for me. It was just a disaster.

My worst mistake was that I still tried to hang on to the possibility that there was some kind of explanations why things happen, still trying to understand what went wrong, what I could have done better. I was blaming myself. I was still trying to believe that it's possible to move on without cutting people off my life.

It took me a while, a long 2 years and risk of losing my PhD to realise that sometimes you just have to cut people off, forget them and let them go especially if they are someone who are painful to think about. Fortunately, I had a good wakeup call to realise early enough to let this process take place before it can interfer too much more of my life.

Today I'm sitting in a quiet house of the people who have been the most supportive to me all through my emotional turmoil, thinking about many more others who have been loving and caring to me unconditionally. The sunlight of the beautiful morning shines on the trees, leaves falling down gracefully and that just makes me want to share this feeling of fulfillment and strength that I have drawn from reflecting on my past.

For 2 long years, I have dwelled in the past and let people who do not appreciate me affect my feeling and my life. Today, there is no more of that. It's going to be hard to erase my memory of pain but I have made a decision to no longer let them have any impact on me in anyway. I'm looking forward. I'm looking towards the future and many great things I will achieve and I will become. My past mistakes will only be there to remind you of how to be better and try to help others so that they do not fall into the same trap.

Does my painful experience make me bitter? No. But it will make me a better person.

What I do make of these people who are painful to me? Nothing, they are just passerby. They are not worth keeping and no more significant than a stranger who we once cross path with and leave.

I'm glad I have experienced life in the way that it doesn't destroy me but strengthen me. I doesn't stop me from loving but appreciating the true from of love and recognizing the fake one.

I thank myself for not giving up, for fighting through the pain and conquer. I thank my family for always being there, loving me no matter what kind of trouble I get myself into. I thank Kathy and her family for adopting me into their hearts despite our differences. I thank Bob and Ros for providing unimaginable amount of support and care to help me get through the toughest time and providing sanctuary for me with their warm beautiful home. I thank all my real true friends who are always supportive and stick by me even when I make mistakes.

This is me and my stories. I hope that by sharing it, one day I can help others to understand themselves better and go through the trouble in their life with strength and good moral.

All the best,

AM

Thank you, mom, for being you and making me who I am

2009-01-03T18:15:00.002+10:00

It's Jan 3rd, 2009. For me, there are 2 reasons to celebrate. The first reason is it is a New Year, new life and hopefully the permament goodbye to old years and things I would like to leave behind. Although it's already the 3rd day, I only just feel that it finally feels like a new year, a better year for me.

The second reason and probably why the first reason exists in the first place is that today is my mom's birthday. I normally don't do sweet things and say sweet words to mom because I feel a bit awkward. But somehow today I felt like I should although I don't think my mom would ever come to this site and read it, she probably doesn't know it exists yet. =P

This second reason is very important to me because it is her birthday and that it makes me realise that if there was no her, I wouldn't have been here either. There is something very special about my mom that I want to write it out here, mainly to remind myself and hopefully to inspire others who care to read. I used to spend hours writing emails and encouraging message to someone else, someone who in the end hurt me the most but never wrote as long to my own mom, how shameful. This year I'm determined to do things differently, to always put family first and never again love someone else more than my family and myself.

So here is my story about my mom and how I would like to thank her very much for being who she is and making me who I am.

Mom is a special person whom I strangely feel close but sometimes feel too weird to express it. Well, it's all come down to the simple fact that she does exactly who I like to do, thinks what I like to think and be what I probably would be. There is a saying that people who are the same don't quite get along, I'm pretty convinced that it might be my case and mom. Sometimes I'd like to think mom is too much into philosophy and all the touchy topics. Well, the strange thing is, when I'm alone, I do exactly the same. When we talked on the phone, I often can't talk long because I feel like there is nothing to talk about, it's weird. Now, I realise that when you are extremely close to someone, you just feel that the person already knows everything hence, there is no more to say. I feel guilty sometimes for not trying to have a longer conversation but mom is always patient and forgiving as usual.

My mom is a unique person as she teaches her kids not to be the one who takes but gives and show us how to think positively when being disadvantaged. "Not having everything, problems, misfortune all make us stronger and better people with a bigger heart", that's what she would say if let's say someone tries to make our life harder. Sometimes I think that's too much and it's unfair to let others walk over us. But sometimes when my head is cooler and could understand more of her point, I see that fairness is not quite absolute or ultimate but a mere tool to make people happy with their life. Life is unfair anyway. So if I have to chose between a fair but full of unhappy struggles and unfair but with happiness from being accepting, I would probably want the latter.

Being my mom's daugther, I realise that success is determined by what and how we define it. Failur can turn into success with the right attitude while the opposite can also be true if unhealthy attitude plagues the mind. During the past 7 months of my life with disappointment and broken heart, I used to think I wasted so much time on such as small matter (small considered by others but critical for me). I used to feel stupid about myself and feel so powerless that I'm afraid I would never be able to get back up to where I was. But after talking to mom on the phone today, I feel different somehow. I might have fallen, I might have been stuck and I might have not done what I was meant to be doing in terms of my academic study. But I didn't waste my time. I learned a lot about myself (although I think I will probably forget and make simiar mistake again because that's me and I can't change it). I learn the value of my family. I learn to accept the imperfect part of me and instead of being unhappy about it, just be contend that it was not worse. =P

So how did my mom did that? Well, it's simple. Because she loves me no matter who I am, what I do, where I am, how hurtful or difficult I can be. And she's the only person (apart from dad) who I know will think of me as the most important person whom she would call or try to see whenever she has a chance. Before, I was looking for this kind of affection from someone else and was so hurt when it was not there, so silly. Now, I don't think I would be needing it from anyone else anymore, I know I have, always have had and will have it from my mom and my family. Because of mom's love, I'm able to regain my strength again and be brave enough to keep going no matter what life brings ahead of me and be happy about it.

Mom shows me that what matter the most is how we value ourselves. Some people value themselves by the income they earn, the house they have. Me and my mom pretty much agree on valuing what good things we do for and to others. No wonder whenever my friends ask me "what do you want?", I always ask them back the same question. For a while, I was accused of not being decisive, well, now I know it was not about being indecisive but more about putting others first. It's something some of my western friends would probably think a stupid idea but again, that's just who I am.

Thank you so much, mom, for being born today 55 years ago. For keeping your great soul and never give up. For giving me life, family, wisdom, lots of other things to keep me alive and healthy both body and mind, and the most important thing of all, love. I love you very much and am so glad I am your daughter.

Love you always,

Your little daugther (who is growing up), Am

End of IAP

2008-10-20T18:41:00.005+10:00

After 5 weeks, IAP or the orientation program for AusAid scholars was over. We had a final presentation and that was the last time we were together with our IAP friends from various countries. It was pretty sad as we know it's unlikely that we would get to do things as a big group like this again. Although it was not a long time, the memory and friendship would definitely last for as long as we treasure them.

Me with my group, most are PhD or MPhil research students from southeast Asia region

We recieved certificate of participation from our learning advisors who have been really helpful.

Southbank

2008-10-17T16:19:00.002+10:00

Me at southbank in the winter so no wonder I had on a jumper. In summer, this place would be packed with people in the swimming suits
Another corner of Southbank parkland

IAP cultural concert

2008-10-16T14:07:00.002+10:00

As AusAid-funded scholars, we had 5-week orientation program about how study and living in Australia in June before the semester started. Part of the program also include cultural concert when people performed something from their culture. I got together with Loasian girl and Cambodian guy and we did "Ram Wong". Others did dancing, singing, and presentation. It was cool to see such variety in culture and also beautiful traditional costumes.

Final view fromParinga Lodge

2008-10-13T13:55:00.003+10:00

Life is not always going to be what we dream for, so although Paringa Lodge has provided me with cosy stay and wonderful memory, there is time when that comes to an end. I was very sad but at least I got good memories to carry with me when I had to walk away. And of course, good photo too. Thanks to all for being part of the wonderful memories. Thank you Jo and Tom.

Pretzel and German beer

2008-10-13T13:48:00.002+10:00

Before parting with my kind host, I was lucky to have a taste of the pretzel and German beer once again. Thanks, man, I really appreciate all your efforts to make my stay at Paringa Lodge as nice as possible.

Sanctuary at Withcott

2008-10-13T13:41:00.002+10:00

During my tough time of the first few months in Australia, I was so fortunate to have unlimited and patient support from my supervisor, Bob and his wife, Ros. They open their warm house for me as a sanctuary where I could truely relax and gather my broken heart and soul. Thanks to their words of wisdom and kind support, I was able to survive and start to see the other side of the long dark tunnel. I'm eternally grateful to them, thank you so much, Bob and Ros.

Yummy and cheerful breafast by Ros

Me and my breakfast with the green view in the background

More food and dinners

2008-10-11T17:35:00.003+10:00

I got to eat so much good food during the first month in Australia. All thanks to the wonderful host and extremely talented chef, Jo.

German red cabbage and white sausage and the most important thing of all, beer! =D

Thai chicken satay and rice

Breakfast with Brisbane river view

2008-10-11T17:31:00.003+10:00

First week in Australia, it's all about adjusting to the change. So I need good breakfast to start my day with. =P Life is tough when you move from being in a full time job to a postgraduate student. I'm not sure which one is better. Hehehe

First BBQ back in Brissie

2008-10-11T17:27:00.002+10:00

Josh and Rhiannon kindly invited me to the BBQ so I was able to have the real Aussie meal once again after one and a half year away from this country

Me waiting for the meat! Look at how happy I was. =D

Lamb for dinner!

2008-10-11T17:22:00.002+10:00

Here is the lamb before the cooking. Look good, doesn't it?
Many thanks to the chef who carefully select the meat and magically cook it as we shall see the result in the next picture.

Here is the lamb after the cooking. Look awesome and taste unreal! Thank you so much, Jo! =D

Brisbane 24th May 2008

2008-10-11T17:14:00.005+10:00

First day back in Paringa Lodge in Brisbane on May 24, 2008.

Welcome breakfast thoughtfully prepared by the kind host, Jo.

Thanks a lot, man.

End of one chapter and new journey begins!

2008-10-06T23:27:00.003+10:00

View over the Phuket Town at dusk from Khao Lang at the last leg of my stay in Thailand before flying to Australia to do PhD

Flying over Brisbane, once again here I am.

This time things are greatly different and they were shocks after shocks for me. But I'm going to pull through it and I will be fine. So let's the journey begin!

Sylvain visit in Bangkok

2008-10-06T23:16:00.006+10:00

Sylvain, my good friend from France visit Bangkok so we arranged to meet up after more than 2 years. It's always wonderful to catch up with good old friends again. Sylvain also introduced me to the part of my country where I've never known to exist. The art gallery venue. We spent the whole day visiting different art galleries following the Bangkok Art Map that Sylvain picked up from Info center. It turned out to be really fun, refreshing and challenging. Thanks a lot, Sylvain!

The most unual piece of art I've ever experience, very bizaare yet I was glad to have seen it. It took forever to find the place though, we almost gave up.

Sylvain always takes the best photo of me (at least I like it =P)

Art Gallery that Sylvain managed to search from internet, very hidden place.

Luxurius restuarant with art display where we stopped by for a drink

Restaurant where we had dinner

Josh and Rhiannon

2008-10-06T23:12:00.002+10:00

Josh, Tom's brother, and Rhiannon came to visit Phuket so I had a chance to take them along on one of the work-related trip to the islands

On the beach at Lawa Island
Mangrove at Yao Noi Island

I am an Aunty

2008-10-06T23:03:00.003+10:00

My brother and His daughter, Fa (Sky)
Cool looking little Fa with her funny hat and fluffy buddy

James Bond Island

2008-10-06T23:01:00.002+10:00

Thanks to my connection to Phuket Community Colleague again, I got to take an excursion with youths to Phanggna Bay and see the famous James Bond Island

My Job as a presenter for curriculum roadshow

2008-10-06T22:56:00.003+10:00

Presenting the university and the new Master Program

The students attending the session

Chill out at the beach

2008-10-06T22:49:00.002+10:00

Although we work in Phuket, we don't often get to go out and enjoy what the island has to offer for tourists who travel across the sea to visit. So one day I and my 2 colleagues went out to have a sunset drink at Nai Han beach, 20 minutes drive from my university.

Dr. Kaew and Dr. Mark, both are lecturers in IT department. Mark is from France

The beach is also a house of a big yatch club resort hence several expensive vehicles in the background

My working environment

2008-10-06T22:41:00.005+10:00

My colleague who is the director of Phuket Community College organize a workshop for environmental study teachers to discuss and work on an environmental curriculum on Phuket at an island between Phuket and Phanggna coast called Lawa Island

We are having a brainstorming session therefore needs lots of food for our brain. =D

Recreational time with the canoe at sunset

Group discusion

Excursion around the south of Phuket

2008-10-06T22:35:00.002+10:00

My colleague (right) took his students out for excursion around the southern part of Phuket so I took an opportunity to take Jo, a visiting researcher who is also a good friend of mine, on this little cruise as well.
Me in my work outfit which is the traditional style of southern Thai

My Trophy

2008-10-06T22:32:00.002+10:00

It was one of those events where your organization supported it and recruite staff to join in. This time it was a fun run of 5 km, I was lucky enough to get the 2nd place. Yeah!

Friend and Family visit at Phuket

2008-10-06T22:14:00.004+10:00

Nok, my dear Thai friend who came to Phuket during her study holiday in Japan. So we went to the famous temple of Phuket, Wat Chalong to pay the respect to statue of holy monks. That's what Thai visitors always do when they visit places, it's for good luck, safe journey and a piece of mind that holy spirits would protect them and family members.

Nok and the sunset at Prom Thep Cape, always cheerful and sweet.

Dad and me at Junceylon Shopping mall in Patong

Part of my job as a tour guide

2008-10-06T22:09:00.002+10:00

Taking the university guests from MIT, USA and Chulalongkorn university, Bangkok to the Three Bay Lookout

One of the very few times when you can really get to see the sunset just above the sea at Prom Thep Cape

Vegetarian festival

2008-10-06T20:18:00.002+10:00

Phuket is famous for its vegetarian festival when majority of the residents wear white and become vegetarian for 10 days. There are food stalls set up and the main streets where the Chinese temples are so people can pray and then eat.

Little mischievous thing we do as lecturers

2008-10-06T20:00:00.008+10:00

This simple photo has an amusing story of how 5 highly educated faculty members got told off by a security guard who thought that we were students about the university rule that bans all fireworks on the university ground. Hehehe. Thought age whould help us to know better, well, not really. =P

Hike down Prom Thep Cape

2008-10-06T19:48:00.005+10:00

As university lecturers, some of us don't have much time to visit and do things that tourists got to do in Phuket. So one day we get together to go to Prom Thep Cape and do adventurous things so nobody can say that academics are all boring people

Taking colleagues to hike down Prom Thep Cape, the famouse sunset lookout point in Phuket

Me and the Prom Thep Lookout Point in the background

Down at the rocky shore at Prom Thep Cape

My rescuers

2008-10-06T19:41:00.003+10:00

Due to the flood in last post, I miss the last bus to travel to another town. So guess what, my parents happen to be traveling to an airport nearby where I would be stranded so they took another 1 hour drive to fetch me (not that near after all). Dad sent mom on the plane for her work trip and drove another 2 hour to send me to the town where I had to meet my colleague. Thank you so much for your patience, dad and mom. Love you guys lots!

The three Boonchais =D

Welcome to the real Phuket

2008-10-06T19:35:00.003+10:00

Little flood on Phuket's main road which caused 2 hour delay for transport going in and out of the town. It's simply because that particular part of the road was a big dip and the drain is not big enough. So after a little bit of rain, we can have little flood like this which causes huge problem and I don't think things are going to change soon. Welcome to Phuket.

From four lane traffic down to one and a half

Work trip in my job

2008-10-06T19:14:00.007+10:00

While working as a young faculty member at PSU (Prince of Songkla University) in Phuket campus, I was very fortunate to have a wonderful senior colleague who give me an oppotunity to meet with international visitors and experience the fun part of the workshop on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) course.

Visit a famous temple in Nakhon Sri Thammarat during the excursion with international visitors who came to participate in the ICZM

Visit Khao Laung National Park and have fresh fruits from the mixed garden of villagers in Kiriwong, the sustainable community with the national best practice in tourism

Bring the international visitors out and about in Phuket as last part of their course =P

Starting over

2008-10-06T18:57:00.005+10:00

It's been almost a year since my last post. Lots of things has happened and I probably can't capture it all in this blog. Also there is a new thing called facebook which seems to take over blogging. My apology for all who have come here and was disappointed with the lack of news from me. I'll try to put some more stuffs to show bits and pieces of my life in the past year as much as I could. Thank you for those who remain loyal and persistent in knowing where I am.

Right now I'm back in Brisbane to do a PhD but I would like to tell you a bit about what I was doing in Phuket before I came here

Here is me helping with the meeting of a working group from AIT, an international university in Bangkok, when I was still working in Phuket

After the meeting, we had lunch at my favourite restuarant with the awesome view

Ko Chang

2007-10-25T02:12:00.000+10:00

As part of my work, I went to a network meeting at Ko Chang in Trat. Ko Chang or Elephant Island is the second largest island in Thailand after Phuket. It only took about 30 minutes to get there from the mainland by ferry. About 80% of the area is national park and therefore is pretty heavuly forested. The best time to visit the island is from October to April. The weather is nice, the scenery is great and the people are impressively friendly. =)

Ferry pier at Ko Chang

Than Mayom Fall

The scenery at the southern part of the island

Inside the hotel room

The hotel area

Koh Yak Lek or Smal Giant Island

Kayak at Ko Rang

Some photos from work-related trip

2007-07-24T18:47:00.000+10:00

A goat from a sufficiency agriculture learning center of a village in Krabi

Stopping by a fruit orchard on the way back to pick up and buy some fruits from the trees!

The output of the trip: bunch of rambutan and Longkong (Lansium domesticum )! That's why I love people at my workplace. =D

Hectic Life at work: short updates

2007-07-24T16:54:00.000+10:00

As the title might have suggested the reason why I disappeared for almost 2 months from the blog, yes, life at work has got me almost insane. I'd better not talk about it or it will took 3 days to finish writing and will be utterly boring to read.

Anyway, I'm still in Phuket working at the rate of 85 baht/hour (my own calculation using the whole month salary devided by office hours. But it seems like this month my salary rate is decreasing as I had to work over time quite often, so probably it would be somewhere at 50-60 baht. Yeah, sound pretty sad but as I virtually have no expense except for food, it's a pretty ok situation. I guess you can't really stick to this kind of job unless you really love it. Hm...As for me, I don't know if I love it but I definitely don't hate it. I really like my workplace and the people. Teaching can be frustrating and students are obnoxious (some of them) but it can also be fun. Overall, things are pretty good.

It rains quite often now and my cloths won't get dry but that can be eased with strong fan and iron. =P My dad came to visit be a few weeks ago and changed the battery for my car (he must have got tired of calling me to check when I would change the old one that has been used for almost 4 years). =P Then I drove with him back to Trang, with the speed of not more than 75km/hr. Yeah, I must have got used to driving an old car and I love it! =D Oh,I've got a name for my car (or rather my grandpa's car)! It's call 'Kai-Nui'meaning the smallest one in southern dialect. I think it's a cute name and very appropriate for my little car. =)

My cooking experience

2007-06-01T01:28:00.000+10:00

Since everyone else I know who has a blog has already made a post about food they have cooked, it's time that I make one too. And to present things in the extreme end of what other people have done (especially Llew and Jo), I'm going to show you the easiest and least complicated meal on earth. =P

Well, as I had too many stuffs in my fridge which need to be rid of, I decided to make do with whatever was left in there. The lucky draw was the Thai vegetable 'Cha-om'(Acacia pennata) I bought from the roadside market about a week ago and an egg from 3 weeks ago. I'll skip the photos of the ingredients as they are not so appealing to look at. =P The preparing process is just taking only the leaves and the soft stems of the vegetable and mixing an egg in. Putting a little bit of fish sauce is optional but I would recommend it as it tastes much better (for those who don't mind this stuff).

The mixture

The cooking utensils in my low-key kitchen

Then fry the mixture as if you fry an egg.

And that's it, you can eat it with rice and some other dish if you have them. In my case, it was the left over half freshwater fish, 3 weeks old tomato and yesterday rice. =P Honestly, it tastes pretty good regardless of how frightening the age of these stuffs sounds.

Cost: Vegetable = 7 baht, Egg = 2.5 baht, Rice = 1.5 baht -> Total = 11 baht = app. 35 cents (AU)
Time: Preparation = 3 minutes, Cooking = 2 minutes -> Total = no more than 5 minutes (providing that rice is already cooked)

This can definitely compete with instant noodle. =D

Karon Beach

2007-05-26T19:04:00.000+10:00

A belated post about my weekend with Pum and his family. On the last day that they were in town, we went to Karon Beach, west of Phuket and south of Patong Beach, to get ourselves wet and (even more) tanned. The sea during the monsoon season is not so inviting to swim as the waves are very strong and often pull unwary swimmers down under the water which make sad news every year. So we decided to just stay close to the shore and not going further than knee-high water, even then many times that we got pulled down into the sea alogn with large amount of sand. Anyway, it was fun and we stayed on the beach for over 2 hours. The result was...I got a very distinct swimsuit mark on my back and slightly red shoulders. (I could no longer claim that I would never ever get a sun burn. =P)

The waves

Pum, resting after a good fight with the vicious waves

Jumping over the waves with Pum's sister, Maprang

The sun was so strong that I almost got a sun burn (lesson learned: should have left my shirt on :S)

(Sea)Shell Museum

2007-05-25T03:03:00.000+10:00

My mom and I went to Phuket Shell Museum with Pum and his family after various temple visits. I expected it to be average but I was surprised how beautiful and interesting the displays were. I think it really worths a visit for those who want to take a break from the sun but still feel close to the sea.

Shell beauty can be found in all shapes, colors and sizes

The fish bone shells, they look cool and painful at the same time

I really like the pattern on these shells

Some of these patterns are so neat that they look like they were hand-painted

The diversity of shapes that nature can make

Amazing colors of these thorny guys

Belated photos from my weekend with Pum and my mom

2007-05-25T02:19:00.000+10:00

The teacher flat where I live in PSU Phuket campus

Wat Chalong (again) on an awesome sunny day

'Temple cat' at Wat Chalong

Me and my beloved mom with the view of west coast of Phuket behind

Puppies

2007-05-19T21:50:00.000+10:00

I visited my parents' house in Trang this weekend. And I was welcomed with a very pleasant surprise from these little puppies of my favourite dog, Macs.

Macs feeding her babies, they are only 1 month old

The little puppies playing around their mom

One of the fattest little cuties =)

I like the look of this one, isn't he a handsome little puppy? Hehehe =)

The walkway between my grandma's house and my house has turned into a puppy land =D

Touring Phuket with mom and Pum's family

2007-05-14T22:26:00.000+10:00

My mom, Pum, Pum's sister and mom walking up 78 steps to where a giant Buddha image is being built

View of Chalong Bay and islands in Phang-nga Bay from a temple on the top of the mountain

Exploring Phuket on a motorbike

2007-05-14T22:05:00.000+10:00

Three Bay lookout (Karon, Kata, Kata-noi, from far to near)

Thai-style life guard station

Karon Beach on an awesome sunny day

Paying respect to a monument at Phrom Thep Cape after the sunset (which went down behind the clouds)

Old Town Phuket

2007-05-14T21:48:00.000+10:00

An art gallery in the old town area of Phuket

Seeing an artist at work

Pictures in the art gallery

Chino-Portuguese architecture in old buildings in Phuket downtown

More colorful old buildings in smaller streets

Koh Phra Thong (Phra Thong Island)

2007-05-14T21:33:00.000+10:00

Leaving the mainland of Phang-Nga to Koh Phra Thong in the rainy weather

Wild Orchid at Phra Thong Island

The "tiger" orchid

More beautiful orchid flowers

Trying a local smoking leave (without the tobacco inside, I'm still a good girl =p)

First weekend in Phuket

2007-05-08T20:16:00.000+10:00

My first weekend in Phuket alone happened to be a long weekend as Monday was a substitute holiday for Coronation day which was actually on Saturday. I decided not to go home to Trang because one of my favourite 'seniors', the term I use for Thai friends who are older than me, happened to be in Phuket for holiday. It was good catching up with P' Yok who then became my savior from having to be stuck in the flat alone (my flatmate took off to travel since Friday evening).

The weather was amazingly good for both Saturday and Sunday despite the heavy, continuous rain on previous days. So to celebrate such luck with the weather, I let myself be talked into trying some water sports. We went to the water sport park near Kathu Waterfall which is a medium size (man-made?) pond with sling running in the middle. I started with knee board which is not too bad except when it comes to turning a corner, I always fell into the water. It was exciting enough trying this kind of thing for the first time but it got even more thrilling when the guy who is in charge if releasing the sling force me into trying the ski. I was really scared but thanks to a lot of pressure the same guy kept giving me, I was able to take off from the platform without diving into the water. But then again, I did fall into the water every time the corner came. After about 1 and a half hour, my arms got no more strength to hold on to the handle and that was it for the water sport for me for the day. Too bad that I didn't have any photos to post as my camera was misbehaving again (post effect from the lake incident).

It was still early in the evening so we went to Patong beach to have a look around. I got to go into the water again, this time without hurting myself. The waves were small and it was just perfect for floating in the water looking at the blue sky. It was the best weekend I could ever imagine for the first week in a new town.

Patong Beach

2007-05-08T13:12:00.000+10:00

Looking towards the southern end of Patong Beach

P Yok, my visitor and guide at the same time =P, with the view of the northern end of the beach

Blue sky, white sand and the two locals on 'Farang Beach' =P

After the swim in the calm sea under the blue sky

Before the sunset

More photos of Wat Chalong

2007-05-07T15:28:00.000+10:00

Another impressive piece of architecture in forms of a tall tower

Inside the building, there are many Buddha images that people donated to the temple

View from the top of the tall tower

Phuket

2007-05-04T13:45:00.000+10:00

It's my 4th day in Phuket and in a 'real job'. A quick update for everyone, I'm now working at university in Phuket as a lecturer. My working hour is quite flexible for now as it is a school vacation. As a university staff, I can live in the flat inside the university for free. It's only 400-500 meters away from my office so that is really great. It's not a big campus but there are facilities like tennis court, basketball stands and foodball field if I ever feel like doing some exercise. My first day in the job was on the 1st of May. I met the dean of the faculty, filled up several forms for the HRM lady, moved my stuffs into my flat and that's it. Since it's the vacation and my office is not ready yet, they don't really have anything for me to do for now. So I got to visit a famous temple of Phuket where I could pray to the holy monks for smooth transition to this new town and into the working life.

Part of architecture in Wat Chalong, the famous temple of Phuket

A resemblance of a monk cottage where wax model of the famous monks are displayed

Along the rail road

2007-04-29T21:44:00.000+10:00

There won't be much writing today as I start to get a really bad sore throat and headache. It's been raining the whole day and there are constant news of summer storm hitting many provinces. Anyway, here are some quick shots of scenery along Thai rail road. This particular route was from Chacheungsao to Bangkok. It took only one and a half hour and only cost 13 baht as opposed to 70 baht for 2 hours bt bus. The difference is, there is no airconditioner in the train. =P

Inside the train

Cars waiting for the train to pass

A house next to a railway

A flock of white birds in the green field

A farmer is driving his machine to prepare the field for growing rice

A canal under the railway

In the far distance behind the rice paddy, there are new houses and the high-voltage power line nearby. Quite an interesting combination, I think

Visiting Trang beach

2007-04-28T18:12:00.000+10:00

After Songkran's festival at my grandpa's house, I came back to Trang and was just in time to do some trips with my friends from high school before they all went back to their work/study places. We went to the beach 40 minute outside of Trang city for delicious seafood meal. The restaurant was next to a pier and a fisherman village which we spotted a bunvh of canoes for hire. So we decided for a short paddle after a our meal. Five of us went in one canoe (2 too many for the usual load but they let us go anyway). We paid 100 baht for 5 people and for unlimited time of paddling(it was 5 pm so they probably knew that we wouldn't go for long although the canoe hirer said we could paddle even when it's dark.) Our paddling experience was... funny. Out of 5 people, only 2 that could somewhat paddle so we spent a lot of time just spinning around. It was very funny and we had so much laughters that we almost couldn't stop. We could see that people from the village was looking and giving us moral support from the shore. My friend and I finally reached the beach on the other side of the channel. The beach on the mainland of Trang province are usually made of dark sand and some areas are even muddy. The place where we landed our canoe was muddy and filled with sea grass. It's interesting looking for marine creatures in that ecosystem. We saw some people picking up some kind of shellfish which could be eaten. We spend about an hour walking barefeet in that soft muddy shore and digging up funny marine creatures. It was a sea visit experience that was so different from anywhere else I've been to. It might not look so inviting for many people but it was awesome for me. =D

The white sea grass flowers float on the water surface above the shallow sea grass bed

The protective part that contains white flowers of the sea grass

Sunset behind the fisherman village on the mainland

One of my friends is digging up what is believed to be a funky shellfish with extremely long body while the other one is helping by pulling her (making sure she won't be pulled down by the monster. =P

Me massaging my feet on the soft muddy beach

Songkran at my grandpa's house

2007-04-17T15:43:00.000+10:00

During Songkran (Thai New Year) holidays, I went to Suphanburi to visit my grandparents. We took a night train on April 11th from Trang to Bangkok. The train was supposed to reach Hualampong station in Bangkok at 8.30 am on the 12th but it was delayed because the earlier train somehow missed the rail and fell off the track. Luckily, nobody was hurt but it resulted in about 7-8 hour delay for the later trains. So my mom and I didn’t get to our destination until 4.30 pm, almost 24 hour journey!

Once I entered the house of my grandpa’s where I was about 3 weeks ago, I was amazed by the huge changes that was done for Songkran. My grandpa paid quite a lot of money to transform an empty space in the middle of the house into a beach volleyball court with the sun shelter over the top. It was money well spent though. I have to say that because I later had a lot of fun with it. The reason behind such an expensive construction was that so the grandchildren can play sports with each other while coming to visit him. It worked very well as my cousins are in the age of unlimited energy and really like playing. However, the only drawback was that I had to be the one entertaining the kids by playing with them because I’m the only adult who is the closest to their age (the eldest among my cousins was 12!). Anyway, it was pretty fun playing with them despite the fact there were 6 of these little kids constantly wanting me to play with each of them one after another. We played volleyball (without rules as some of my cousins can barely hit the ball), badminton, table tennis, cycling and boardgames. I was totally exhausted by the end of the 2 day event (13th-14th).

In the morning of the 13th of April, we all paid a respect to my grandparents by giving them flower (jasmine) garlands and watering their hands with scented water. Some of my aunts and uncles came later at night as they have to travel from work or to the other side of their family first. I have 4 aunts and 4 uncles, all are younger than my mother. Four of them are married and have kids so you can imagine how big the family are when everyone gat together. I never fancy a big family but once I saw all my uncles and aunts and their kids together with my grandparents, it felt so warm that I wouldn’t want it in any other way. I’m glad that my mom has a very warm and loving family despite all the hardship they faced when they were young. And of course, lucky me! =D

Thai tradition of watering the hands of our elderly

All the flower garlands that were given to my grandparents

Playing sport with my little cousins, aunts and uncles

My big family

Bangkok to Phuket to Trang

2007-04-07T19:12:00.000+10:00

I had a smooth ride with the night coach from Southern Bus Terminal in Bangkok to Phuket. The bus left at 6.30 pm, took a half an hour break for a small meal at midnight and reach Phuket bus terminal at about 7 am on the next day. My dad had already been waiting to pick me up which was very nice. He drove from Trang to Phuket since the night before and stayed in the hotel nearby so he could bring to the university which is located out of Phuket Town.

I had an interview at 10 am so that left me plenty of time to get ready. The interview went very smoothly, my dad even get invited to sit in and talked to the interviewers who are the deans of the faculty. They are really friendly and seem keen to have me in their team. Now it’s up to the scholarship office to settle the paper work and the official procedure. I hope I will get to work there as there were also other governmental offices in Bangkok that accepted my application and would put me to the job without an interview (which I found a bit odd). Anyway, I guess they are desperate to get people to work for the government because people with high degrees often go elsewhere since the governmental workers get pretty low salary. That’s quite sad for the country but it’s how the reality is.

After the interview my dad drove me around Phuket to different beaches. Of course, we drove by Patong Beach where more than half of the shops and people are not Thai. Personally I don’t like this place because it’s too crowded and too much development (not in the positive way either) but it can be a good experience to see it anyway. We didn’t stop there but went to the quieter beach. That would be at east side of the island. We had a stop at Phrom Thep Cape at noon. My dad had a nap while I walked around taking some photos. It’s a cape at the southern end of Phuket and famous for sunset.

A road along Patong Beach

Am at Prom Thep Cape

A beach on the eastern side of Phuket

Then we head of to Ao Nang in Krabi. We get there at about 7 pm and all the street shops, pubs and restaurant have all been running in full display. It’s pretty similar to Patong but at least there are not that many big buildings and the layout of the shops are more organised and blending in with the natural surrounding. I hope it stays like that for long time. We didn’t have dinner at Ao Nang but continue driving toward Trang. My dad let me drive for a bit, that was my first time driving an automatic car. I managed not to crash into anything although there were two times that someone just crossed the road in the dark right in front of our car. We stopped at food store in town for a late night dinner at about 11 pm and my mom came to meet us there. So I was finally with my family after 4 days of travelling around.

Part of a market in Trang where my mom brought me to buy some breakfast

Life back at home is… interesting. Some are in positive ways while some are not quite how I would want it. Well, at least I quickly get back into riding a motorcycle and can get around without much trouble (except some issues with the direction). Being able to do things on my own help me get rid of some unpleasant feelings sometimes. I hope everyone is having a great weekend and Happy Easter! =)

Sawatdee Kah =)

2007-04-06T18:09:00.000+10:00

Greeting from Thailand! Yep, I’m back at home in Trang, a southern province on Andaman Coast of Thailand. I arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport near Bangkok on March 18th. Yeah, it’s quite a big gap to between when I arrived and now that I just have time to update my post. There has been a few things going on which involved some traveling so it wasn’t quite convenient for me to sit down and write what I have been doing and where I have been. Besides, my work situation is not settled yet so I didn’t feel like telling people the incomplete update. Well, sometimes, incomplete is better than none. So here it goes, my story of life at home.

I must admit I had a little culture shock when I first arrived. Although it’s my homeland, being away for 6 years made me get used to different system in other countries and somewhat forgot the severity of how crazy life in Thailand can be, especially on the road. My uncle (1 of 8 siblings my mom has) picked me up at the airport which is about 25 km from Bangkok and drove me to the other uncle’s house to stay overnight. Riding with my uncle from the airport is an experience by itself and make me realize how much I still have to adjust with living back home. Let’s just stay, sticking to the traffic rules is definitely not enough to ensure your safety on the road. Because it seems like most people don’t follow them anyway.

After staying in Bangkok for a day, my aunt brought me to my grandparent’s house in Suphanburi. My grandparent’s house is a fusion between the Thai style wooden house on the upper level and the modern tile floor at the lower level. But what I like best about this place is the kitchen, they always have lots of spices and food in there and that really remind me of the old lifestyle of people in this area.

I went to visit a famous temple and a giant Buddha image. I think being somewhat inclined to believe in good karma is something I will always quickly get back into without any difficulty. Inside the temple, there are huge paintings about a famous literature with description in both Thai and English too. So I spent a while looking at them before rushing back home as the rainstorm was coming. By the way, the name of the temple is Wat (temple) Pa LeLai. I spent 2 nights In Suphanburi and then took a coach to Phuket for my interview with a university there.

Well, I guess that’s it for today. I will try to find time to put more stuffs in the next post. Take care everyone.

Herzlich Wilkommen Bebb und Peter =)

2007-03-05T15:05:00.000+10:00

Jo's parents, Bebb and Peter arrived from Germany last Thursday. So we have been busy showing them the wonderful city of Brisbane. The first two days were spent around UQ and our flat to let our visitors slowly adjust to the temperature and Australian ways of how things run. Then, we tackled a city tour on Saturday. We took a City Cat to Southbank and walk around for a while. It was a warm sunny day so there were a lot of people on the beach and in the water.

For lunch, we took the ferry across to North Quay and walk pass the Queen Street Mall towards our favourite Chinese food court. To finish off the delicious meal, we had the best ice-cream (and also the cheapest) in Brisbane at Hungry Jack. After that we strolled around looking at things in souvenir shops. Bebb got a really good bargain on a nice leather hat and that concluded our city tour for the day. At dinner, Jo performed his cooking magic and presented us with the most wonderful lamb cutlets with garlic sauce ever. The delicious meal was accompanied by the excellent view of our private riverside restaurant (our balcony) which has never failed to impress any of our guests. =D

The dinner, lamb cutlets with garlic sauce, homemade peach jam, green beans and potato gems

The view of our riverside restaurant

On Sunday we did a walk up My Ngungun summit (253 m) in Glass House Mountain National Park 70 km north of Brisbane. After enjoying the view of the Glass House Mountains and the landscape around we head to the beach in Caloundra. We sat by the beach and had some fruits which we bought from the local store on the way to the mountain. Then Peter and Jo went swimming in the sea while Bebb strolled on the white sand beach and Am had a little nap in the shady spot. Hehehe. =P

On the summit of Mt Ngungun

After a swim/walk at King Beach in Caloundra

On the way back to Brisbane we dropped by Wildhorse lookout and was there just as the sun was setting. While driving to the lookout carpark Bebb spotted a Kangaroo with a very beautiful colour. So our visitors got to see their first wildAussie Kangaroo on just their third day in the country! =) The scenery of the Glass House Mountains and the sunset were also very beautiful. To top it off we had tasty fish and chips at the Hawken Village for dinner and that really made our fantastic day complete without a flaw! =D

Sunset and the mountain view at Wildhorse lookout

Yeah, finally turned 25!

2007-02-27T16:54:00.000+10:00

I should have put up this post last week when my birthday actually was. Anyway, got a bit lazy and I also had a hard time trying to get to my blog update page due to some unknown computer/internet problem. Well, late is better than never. Yes, so what do I want to do with my next chapter of life. It so happens that the year I turn 25 is the year I have to leave Australia as well as cosy student life to a real world of working and totally being on my own. It sounds a bit scary. But on the bright side, I think being 25 make me a bit more confident as I feel older and can do whatever I want. For example, I can buy and eat as many chocolate as I would like or go on several day trips with whom ever I want. (Of course, I'll have to manage to get leave from work first. =P) So it's not all that bad. Anyway, just want to let everyone know that I'm getting old(er) and feeling really happy about it. =D It's pretty weird, isn't it? Well, that's me. Hehehe =)

Birthday cake for breakfast. Thanks a lot, Jo. =)

A lovely present from Bebb and Peter, thank you soo.. much

And thank you Kathy, Steve and Hannah for the parcel full of wonderful presents which arrived exactly on my birthday. Thanks mom and dad for trying to call me the day earlier and the great blessing and all. I love you all! =)

Where I have been

2007-02-13T15:40:00.000+10:00

It's been a while since my last post on the blog. Well, I haven't really got much to talk about since our return from New Zealand. I'm just getting prepared to go home and start working. Most of the days were spent on looking for information about what is going on in Thailand in terms of tourism and the environment. And somehow I got myself addicted to following the property rental and sale market in Bangkok. It's interesting to see what a huge gap there is in the types of accommodations in Bangkok. Anyway, I'm also (trying to) learn some German using the language cd Jo gave me. It's quite fun actually. I can already say things like...Mein Name ist Am. Ich mag Fleisch geessen. Es ist jetzt sechzehn Uhr. It's pretty cool.

Well, it's been raining the whole day and I'm in desperate of finding some interesting things to do. Updating my blog with some photos from my trip in Germany (December 2005) seems to be the most appealing task so far. So here it goes...

Making friend with a cow during an afternoon walk

Afternoon tea during the visit to the ruin of the acient Roman villa

At the landmark of Darmstadt

Christmas market near Darmstadt University

Clearing the thick (Autumn) snow from the footpath

After hours of sleigh riding(with 4 layers of really thick cloth on but I was still freezing!)

Heidelberg

Strassburg, France

With Silke and Philip in front of the Münster in Strassburg

The Mythen, Switzerland

New Zealand : Part 2

2007-01-10T18:45:00.000+10:00

However, our luck with the weather didn't last long because the next day and pretty much most of our time in the South Island the weather was not so good with rain, cold wind, and low clouds. We paid a quick visit to Fox Glacier, dropped by a country souvenir shop in Haast and camped in Mt. Aspiring region on Christmas Eve. We both got possum skin from the Santa and were extremely happy about it. On Christmas day we visited a few natural attractions along the road and the two towns by the big lakes, Wanaka and Queenstown. There were hundreds of tourists on the street in search of very few open stores to kill time. I got a nice red fleece jumper for good price so I was very pleased with that.
Fox Glacier in the rain
Blue pool
Wanaka

Boxing day was much better for town touring since more places are operating. We took a three hour walk up the Queenstown Hill and got a pretty impressive view of Lake Wakatipu, the city center and the Remarkables. We headed southwest to Te Anau in the afternoon, another town by the big lake but this time it's in the fiordland region. The weather at Milford has the most bizaare characteristic. In the morning we has quite a fine day with a little bit of sun at Mirror lake but when we went walking up to the Key Summit which follows small part of a Routebourn Track it was cloudy and rainy and extremely cold. We couldn't see very far but the nature walk interpretive signs pointed out interesting things about alpine vegetation that we still enjoyed the walk a lot anyway.
Queenstown
Te Anau
Wild flowers along the river in Milford region
Mirror Lake
View from Key Summit
Windy road through the tall mountains toward Milford
Chasm, rock sculptured by the force of the river

At this time of the journey we were pretty used to the fact that the rainfall here is measured in meters instead of millimeters and we just had to get on with it. So we took a two hour cruise into the Milford Sound in the next morning in what was considered a pretty alright weather. It didn't rain very hard and the clouds were not so low so we could still see and appreciate the unique characteristics of the valleys and mountains carved by the glacier in the past. The good thing was that when we left Milford for Manoupouri, we started to see the sun and blue sky again.
Milford Sound cruise
Lake Manoupouri
Rugged landscape on the way to Cromwell

We picked a nice spot to camp out next to Lake Dunstan in Cromwell and then travelled on to Mt. Cook. We dropped by a salmon farm and picked up 400 gram of smoke salmon for dinner. Again, it rained as soon as we entered the mountainous region. Once in a while the clouds would cleared up and we could see the impressive mountians with snow top and hanging glacier. We took a three hour walk on Hooker Valley Track to see the Hooker and Mueller glacier. The walk was pretty cool despite the annoying shower and low clouds.
Sunset at Lake Dunstan
Lindis Pass
Hooker Valley swing bridge
View of snow-capped mountain from the campsite
Salmon for Dinner

It was summer but we found ourselves snow-hiking in a snow storm on the Mueller Hut Track at Mt Cook. It was pretty challenging since we were told that ice axe and crampon would be needed for this walk and we were the first people who went on the track on that day. We didn't have the gears but still wanted to try how far we could go anyway. Luckily there was someone coming down from the hut so we could followed his path up. It would have been very hard finding the track without this guy's footsteps because when we reached about 1600 m, everything was coverend in thick snow. Everything around us were pretty much in clouds. Occasionally we heard the sound of what must have been big avalanche or ice breaking from the glacier from the other mountains or perhaps the other side of that mountain we were climbing. Anyway, we made it all the way up to the hut (1780 m)after 4 hour, took off our soaking wet socks and had nice warm bake beans and tea for lunch. The clouds did clear up a bit so we could see hanging glacier on the mountains nearby and part of Mt. Cook. There was also sunshine and blue patch in the sky for a short while but we were too tired to get out and take photo. After we finished lunch there were a lot more people arriving to the hut carrying ice axes and crampons. Gees, I wondered what they thought of us in our old hiking shoes.
Walking up to Mueller Hut with the view of Hooker valler and glacier
Snow covered most of the ground at higer altitude
View of an upper part of a glacier from Mueller Hut
Decending from the clouds

After the big hike, we drove out to camp near Lake Pukaki. On New Year Eve we had a superb lunch spot in the sund by Lake Tekapo and visited the Church of the Good Sheperd which has a big window looking out to the mountains of the Southern Alps. It was again raining most of the time when we drove through the Canterbury region up north.
Lunch at Lake Tekapo
Southern Alps through the church window
New Year's Eve dinner in the tent

We were in Kaikoura on New Year's Day which was pretty much in clouds. We did a nice 3 hour peninsula walk and saw the seal colonies. Jo wanted to do the seal swim but due to the rough sea and bad visibility, all the tours were cancelled. The weather was still pretty bad when we took the ferry back to North Island. We were lucky that Jo found a nice cabin with two beds so we could sleep through most part of the bumpy journey. It was actually pretty luxurious, we could even take a shower.
Shoreline walk at Kaikoura
Seal colony
Sheep on the sea shore
Luxurious cruise

Back on the north side of Cook Strait, we took a little adventure on the very narrow and windy road in search of a campsite. The road turned out to be quite insane but rewarding in terms of the view. We drove up north through Taupo again but via a different route called the Desert Road. The scenery was spectacular with Mt. Ruapehu (2797 m) white-capped top and the desert vegetation under the blue sky. At Lake Taupo, we stopped at the same rest area as we did on our southward journey and discovered the difference. This time we could see Mt Ruapehu and other mountains of Tongariro National park in the background of the lake. The holiday parks in Taupo were pretty crowded and expensive so drove to Rotorua to stay. Somehow, the town was much bigger than how we remembered it from our first visit.
View of Kapiti Coast after the extremely windy road through mountains
Mt Ruapehu from the Desert Road
Mt Ruapehu from Lake Taupo

On our last day with the car, we stopped at the beautiful Hamilton Botanic Garden for lunch. We were back in Auckland by 4.30 pm. The returning of the car was as hectic and rushing as when we picked it up but since there was no trouble we couldn't really complain. We decided to spent a night at the airport to catch our flight in the early morning of the next day. Jo found us a nice comfortable counch on the top floor of the airport so we could get some sleep which we did. I'm pretty sure we made a lot of people jealous with the best spot we got and the perfect set up of sleeping bags, pillows, jo's box as a table and all the food.
Indian garden in Hamilton
Staying overnight at the airport

Overall, it was an awesome trip. But I have to say, I am also glad to be back in Australia where rain is more scarce and sunshine is excessive. It would have been perfect if the weather of these two places can be mixed and devided by half so that we get more rain here in Brisbane and more sunshine there in New Zealand.

New Zealand: Part 1

2007-01-10T17:49:00.000+10:00

Happy New Year! It's been a while since I last made a post on the blog. Jo and I went to New Zealand for 4 weeks over Christmas and New Year. Yup, finally I got the visa and our flights went very smoothly. We stayed in Auckland for about a week and then rent a car to travel down south. Our road trip officially started on the 14 of December 2006 when we left Auckland with a small white Toyota Starlet heading towards Rotorua. Rotorua is a popular tourist city for its thermal areas and attractions.
View of Auckland Tower and a habour

The next morning we went to a thermal wonderland to see a geyser and amazing landscape features that have resulted from the thermal activities in the area. Then we drove down past Taupo which is a town next to a big lake towards Tongariro National Park. The next morning we did the famous Tongariro Crossing in a clear blue sky (which later on we came to learn that such a day was one of the rarest thing in New Zealand. After the big hike, we headed to Whanganui via minor road along the beautiful Whanganui River.
Lady Knox Geysey
Artist's Palette and Champaign Pool and the thermal area
Huka Fall, on the way to Taupo
Emerald Lake at Tongariro Crossing
View of Whanganui River

We drove down to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand to catch a ferry to South Island in pretty much rainy gloomy weather. However, the day we took the ferry across Cook Strait the weather was very fine and clear so we had a great view during the journey. We followed a very windy road linking Picton and Havenlock with a fantastic scenery and headed to Lake Nelson National Park to stay overnight.
View from the ferry seating area towards Marlborough Sounds
Lake Nelson National Park

West Coast was the first main destination in our plan. We had a nice rest stop on the way to the famous Pancake Rock and saw a seal for the first time in New Zealand. The Pancake Rock was pretty spectacular and very busy with lots of bus tours and tourists of all ages. The next day was our first experience with the true South Island weather with heaps of rain and low clouds. To top such a gloomy day of, our car battery went flat and we spent most time figuring how to get help and waiting for the road service people to come by. Well, we met a couple of nice people, both tourists and locals so it wasn't so bad.
Sleeping seal at Charleston
Pancake Rock

The next morning the weather still hadn't got better but we decided to go ahead with the plan of walking up to Avalanche Peak(1833 m) at Arthur's Pass anyway. There was some snow on the higher area and we had a mini snow storm during lunch time. Some people turned back before the reaching the summit because of bad visibility. We continued to the summit and was lucky that the clouds clear up with occasion sunshine so we had an awesome view of the valley and white-capped mountains in the distance. There were also some Keas or alpine parrots accompanying us and trying to get into our bags in search for food.
Walking up Avalanche Peak
Kea on the summit

When we left the moutain region back to the West Coast, the weather got a bit better and the next morning we had perfectly clear day in Hokitika and Lake Mapourika north of Franz Josef. Jo took a swim in the cold water of the lake, brave man. In the morning, we went down to the lake again to enjoy the tranquility of the still lake water which gave the near perfect reflection of the snow-capped mountains of the Southern Alps. Then, it's a big day at the glacier with the best weather anyone could ever hope for in the West Coast. We took a full day glacier guided walk under the cloudless blue sky. The trip started from about 10 am and ended at 4.30 pm, it was phenomenal!
Crystal blue river
Lake Mapourika, north of Franz Josef
Walking on Franz Josef Glacier
On the glacier
Going through the ice crevasse

Canoe trip

2006-12-05T16:52:00.000+10:00

Last weekend Jo, I, Brett and Bek went canoeing up the Noosa River. It was supposed to be 4 hour of paddling to our campsite but there was crazy wind against us so it took us 7 hours to get there. By the time we reached the campsite, it was almost dark and my arms were aching so badly that I almost couldn't move them. The trip was still fun and funny though, we had a lot of laughs along the way. To make up for the hard work, we had a big piece of steak each for dinner, with salad and garlic bread. Breakfast was very big as well as we had to prepare ourselves to the return journey. We had fried eggs, bacon, toast and fruits. The way back was not as hard because the wind was blowing in our favour so we actually get back much faster than expected. I didn't take that many photos because there was a sad incident with my camera, it got drown.... Anyway, here are some shots from our canoe adventure.

Start from Elanda Point in Lake Cootharaba.

Brett an Bek fighting against the wind.

The water was too shallow to paddle so we(they) had to walk the canoes.

Finally we reached the calmer water of Upper Noosa River.

It was getting dark but we were still paddling.

Fuelling for the big day ahead.

End of the trip. Phew.... That was a big one.

I'm a graduate!

2006-12-05T15:41:00.000+10:00

It's been a few weeks after my last assignment but I am still recovering from exhaustion and don't seem to have energy to do much. Perhaps, it's the "Graduate Syndrome". Anyway, I can't complain because it is still much better than having all the stress like I did a few month before. Finally, I will be graduating with the Master Degree in Environmental Management specialising in Environmental Tourism. Sound pretty cool, doesn't it?

And to all my families who give me endless support and love during all these years, thank you so much. I can come this far only because of the blessing from you all. As a result of all that love and blessing, I proundly present you with a newly graduate with the Dean's Commendation of High Achievement. =D

Thank you Peter and Bebb, my German family who treat me with great kindness and warmth like I were their own daugther. I had a fantastic time in Germany with their extraordinary hospitality and continue to feel that even when I'm back in Brisbane from their lively greeting via the phone and emails. Vielen Dank! =)

Big thanks, hugs and kisses to my American family, Kathy, Steve, Han, Jess and Stephen who have embraced me in their lovely home during my toughest time(s) in life. Thank you so much for all the wonderful parcels and cards that always made my days brighter as ever and gave me strength to fight against all the obstacles. I miss you guys so much and will be working hard to find the way to visit you all again soon.

To my Thai family, mom, dad and P' Tar, you guys are the actual reason I am who I am today (and I pretty sure that it's a good thing, hehehe. =P) Thank you for all the patience, undestanding, sacrifice amd most importantly, the knowledge of what constitute the true happiness and success in life. I love you all.

And of course to all my dear friends who put up with my lack of presence, thank you for still remembering to send me news and greetings even when I was too busy to reply. Thank you those who share the empathy when I was working on my assignments and share joy when things turned out well. Big thanks to the Catalyst which kindly lends me the research space and includes me in the dynamic working atmosphere. Hehe =P
(Sorry no photo because there are too many of you guys to show here but we sure know who you are, heh?)

And to the very special person, Jo , thank you so much for the "unlimited, persistent patience, love and care" that you have given me during these two years. I couldn't have acheived this much if not because of you, man. You are the best!

So that's my grtaduation tribute to all my dearest families and friends. Now it's time to give myself a pat on the back (I don't normally praise myself too much but I guess a little bit of self-praising once in a while can't do any harm, heh?) "Well done, Am" (pat, pat) =P

Last week of exam

2006-11-17T09:10:00.000+10:00

Today is the last day of exam (I think) and then the university would return to the quiet and peaceful environment that the postgraduate students are longing for. I don't know if I should be happy or sad about that because my student status would be terminated soon and I actually have nothing to do anymore. That might sound like a dream come true for some people, I used to think so too. But as I am in that situation now, it's pretty boring. I've been trying to keep myself busy with researching about New Zealand trip and doing things I thought I would do once I finish all my assignments. There are actually quite a bit to do but somehow I just lost the urge to do them. Anyway, the weather is great today and looks good for the weekend so I think I should start planning for a short getaway trip.

Meanwhile, here are some photos of the late spring atmoshere at UQ.

Blossoming tree

Jo and the colorful tree in front of the sandstone building (part of the Great Court)

Trying an artsy shot

The weather girl

2006-11-14T18:38:00.000+10:00

Thanks to information from Brad and Tom, I could put up a new little cute feature on my blog, the weather girl. Now those oversea would get to see how it's like here in Australia. I'm very sorry if I make someone jealous with all the sunny days and warmth we've got here. =P Well, I have to admit that I'm actually jealous of people who get to see the autumn scenery and winter atmosphere in the northern hemisphere. Somehow, I can't really comprehend Christmas and New Year in summer weather. =P

Successful weekend and surprisingly good week!

2006-11-14T17:20:00.000+10:00

Despite all my depression on the visa issues, the weekend turned out to be really productive and rewarding. First of all, I submitted my final assignment on Friday night and that marked the end of my study. Yes! Although it was done in a rush and I felt a bit sad that I could have done it better as it was for my favourite subject, I was glad I submitted it in before the weekend. Jo and I walked home at 1.30 am and fixed something to eat because we had not have dinner. We were very happy that that was going to be the last time that we had to stay up that late because of Am's work and her bad habit of doing things at the last minute. Thank you, Jo, for putting up with me.

Then, the real weekend began. We went car part hunting on Saturday. We called a couple of car wreckers to find out if they have the car model that we are after. Many didn't have it and that made us a bit worried. The last one we called happened to have the car but we would have to take the part out by ourselves. The price for the part was 4 times cheaper than getting the brand new part and this wrecker was not so far from our house, just about 20 minute drive, so we thought we gave it a go. It was interesting seeing almost a hundred of cars in a smash, rundown condition in this place. Yet, there seemed to be a lot of people who find treasures out of all these non-running cars and that included us. We got the part we want including a new headlight to replace the old one that has a fracture in it. We also got some treatment liquid for the engine and all that were for less than 60 dollars. What a bargain! Luckily, we got all the things quite easily as Jo had the tools we needed and he was very fast in taking things apart. It would have taken me at least twice as long to just get one screw out. So, we achieved a great deal that day.

Sunday, Jo started putting the new parts and other stuffs back together at about 11 am. It was quite demoralising to find more problems as we tried to fix things. It turned out that the thread in the hole for the screw that was supposed to be underneath the cam sprocket got detached from the surface of the hole and came lose. So there was nothing to hold the screw anymore and that's probably what caused the problem in the first place. So Jo had to find other way to fix this screw. He did so by using adhesive substance that hardens like a rock after 5 minutes of mixing the 2 parts of that stuff together. He also used that to secure the inner component of the new headlight as it was not firmly fixed to the frame. I was amazed how quickly Jo did all these things and actually finished them before dark.

Meanwhile, what did I do? Well, I managed to wash all the laundry including bed sheets and quilt covers, put on new bed sheets, vacuumed the house and did a little bit on tightening the screws for various parts. My jobs were not quite technical or physically demanding but somehow I felt extremely exhausted by the end of the day. Finally, just slightly before 6 pm, Jo started the car and.... it worked again! Yes! We drove around the suburb for a while to test whether the problem was fixed. At the beginning, the Subaru still made the sound that was not so positive for our repair result. Then it came and go and after about 20 minutes of driving, it was completely gone! The car sound became very soft and smooth and we could hardly hear anything from the engine. Jo reckoned it also drove better than before. So we did fix it! It was great to have our old Subaru back to life again. =D

After the great achievement from the weekend, I was back to my unpleasant time of sorting out the visa issue. My passport and documents which were sent back to me since last Tuesday still haven't shown up. I had an appointment with immigration office in Brisbane on Monday afternoon and still had no document to bring along except a half-filled application (I have to leave my passport detail blank), a letter from uni that stating my expected graduation date, a notice from the bank about a fund transfer from my scholarship sponsor and a certified copy of a letter from the sponsor saying that I am obligned to return home to work. I was not so enthusiastic to go as I was so sure that they would probably tell me to come back again when I have all the document ready including a passport. But then an amazing thing happened. The lady who serviced me just looked at my very limited documents, told me to pay for the application fee (which I did it reluctantly since she did not tell me if I would get the visa in time to use it to apply for New Zealand tourist visa), did a few minutes of typing and told me that she would grant me a visa today. I was absolutely in shock. I didn't even have my passport detail although I know it could be in their computer system but I never expect her to help me find it. Well, she did and gave me everything I needed within just 15 minutes. That was the best thing that happened to me in about 2 months. (well, excluding my parents' visit in Australia). It is amazing how different people who are in the same job can be. I hope there are more efficient and reasonable people like this lady working for the immigration offices in every country. I couldn't stop thanking her but she just said she had everything she needed and that's just the way things worked. Sometimes life can be extremely and unbelievably easy. Well, that definitely made my week.

Then when I came home and found an empty letter box, my heart sank again. I didn't want to keep being paranoid and worried so I called the post office service to try my luck if they know whereabout my letter would be. And finally, the girl gave me the good news that the notice to collect my letter should be delivered today and all I have to do was wait till 5 pm and check the mail again. And when I did, it was there! The yellow paper slip that I have been waiting for and also the letter from the educational office in Canberra. So I could just resent all these things again after I get the tourist visa lable in my passport. What a great day! Now I can say goodbye to all the heavy feeling and worries and just patiently wait for the processing of New Zealand visa and hopefully everything will be ok.

So that's my long story of emotional adventure. Although I am pretty sure I have learned a lot of things by the end of this, I still prefer not to have too many of these lessons. It is quite stressful and that is the last thing I need now. Hope all will go well for everyone out there. And thank you for all those who patiently put up with my rants and emotional instability. I truely appreciate it. I'm fine now and will try to be stronger. =D

Another challenge in life

2006-11-08T16:08:00.000+10:00

Good thing that I write this post when pretty much of my depressive feelings were gone or else this would have been one of the very dark and unpleasant readings.

The visa application to NZ did not go smoothly. I got a call from a visa officer demanding that I need a valid tourist visa to re-enter AUS before applying for NZ. Although I tried to explain that I planned to do that while travelling in NZ, she still didn't accept it. So my application would be sent back. Then I contacted the AUS immigration office and found out that I could not apply for a tourist visa until I get a confirmation letter of my study completion. That would only be released after Nov 29th. That will not leave me enough time to apply for both tourist visa to AUS and NZ. I spent the whole of yesterday trying to get a hold of someone at the NZ immigration office but it was unsuccessful. I spent the whole morning trying to think positively and focusing on the assignment that is due on Friday. Luckily, that attempt was quite successful as I spent most of today researching and writing the assignment. Still, I'm very scared of what would be the outcome if I really need to get the AUS visa before going to NZ. Everything was set for the trip, the flight was paid, accommodation was sorted and the plans and expectations were too much that I cannot bear the thought of not being able to fulfil them.

There are many things I want to rant about the system that make it so hard and unfair for some people to travel. But that would be a waste of my time and mental health. So now I am deciding whether to be happy to get the experience that some people might never have or just to be neutral and accept that life does suck really bad sometimes. Well, at least I get to test myself on how much I can handle obstacles and disappointments. The result is....low to moderate. I do need a good cry (or maybe a few times) before I can really convince myself to be strong. So yeah, another hick-up in my life. I actually learn from this incident that one of the most important functions of human mind is the ability to forget and put things behind. Yeah, yeah. It's not new. But man, it's tougher to do than to say it. So that's my lesson for today: 'forget the past, cherish the present and never bet too much on the future'.

P.S. Although I actually did win the bet on the Melbourne Cup horse. Too bad that we didn't play for money or else I would have been quite rich by now. Hehehe.

Monday Monday

2006-11-06T12:52:00.000+10:00

I know I am supposed to be doing my assignment but I just can't ignore the urge of updating my blog which have been tickling me over the weekend. So it's gonna be short, hopefully.

I sent of my visitor visa application for New Zealand on Friday. That took a lot of heavy feelings out of my chest. I hope things go smoothly. It really sucks that the nation you are the citizen of is often not included in the visa-free list of a lot of countries. Saturday, Jo and I hunted for car parts to fix our Subaru. We got the new timing belt and exchanged the fan belt that the shop employee wrongly gave us. We still couldn't get the cam sprocket (I just learned that term from Jo). So it seems like we have to go to the wreckers next weekend. We went to Lew's house to preview their garage sale and got some books and cute stuffs. Lew made pasta bolognaise which was really tasty. Sunday was nice and leisurely. I went jogging for the first time in about 6 months and realised I seriously need to get back in shape by doing more exercise. So that will be one of the first thing I do after all these study works. Speaking of which, I would have to get back to it now. Hur.....

Submitting thesis!

2006-11-02T16:02:00.000+10:00

Oh dear, yesterday was a full-on thrilling experience with submitting my thesis for me. I got up at 4 am and worked almost non-stop (occasional visits to the bathroom) until 6 pm. Dearest Jo was the great helping hand and supporter in making sure I drank and ate my meal. (I almost got in trouble when he knew that I barely ate anything during the whole day.) We went to uni at 10 pm to send the document to my supervisor via email. I still had issuea with Endnote and page number which took up a lot of time to fix. In the end I had to just leave certain things. Then the PDF file conversion took longer that it usually did and produced the file that is 1.5 time bigger in size than the original one. Oh my, I almost cried by the time I got the file to send off to my supervisor. And it was 2 minutes past midnight on the 2nd of November. So officially, I was late as the deadline was on the 1st. That also demoralised me a bit too. We reached home at about 12.30 am. Jo was sweet as he didn't complain at all about me taking so long to finish things off! I really appreciate that, man. So yeah, it's officially over, finally.

Well, I still can't slack though because there is one more assignment that I have to get done before the 10th of November. But it's gonna be much more relaxing this time. I like assignments that are open for creativity.

So today I went to the city and picked up my visa label which is going to expire soon but I still need it for applying for visa to New Zealand. Well, my journey started a bit late as the City Cat took forever to come. And by the time I walked to the building where the immigration office it, the fire alarm went off and everyone in the building were coming out. Great, I had to wait around without knowing how long it would be before I could get my stuuf. So I took a walk to the Riverside area hoping to find a nice cosy spot to rest while waiting. I ended up getting a nice bench overlooking the river to sit down and ate 3 sushi rolls I bought earlier. It was good except the strong wind that keep blowing hair into my mouth and eyes. Finally I walked through the City Botanic Garden and dropped by Hungry Jack for a 40 cent ice cream. It was very good. It didn't take long to get my visa label despite a large number of people waiting in the visa office. I went into the big building where my favourite store, Crazy Clark's, is, bought a can of chilled coke and sat down in front of Woolworths supermarket. The view of city people in working cloths of various styles is quite enjoyable so I sat there for about half an hour. I got some cute stuffs and a sunglass for good price so I was really happy. It's then time to go home, or rather, to university. It was a nice day amid this stressful period of assignment deadlines. Although I have been having a headache since morning, I still enjoy my day a lot. That's also largely contributed to the nice post filled with Halloween candy that was sent to me from my lovely host mom. I got it this morning and that really made my day a lot better than how it started. Thank you so much, Kathy.

Ok, now it's time to tackle that other assignment. Will update more soon.

Writing thesis

2006-10-31T21:06:00.000+10:00

Thesis writing is the most torturous thing I've ever experienced. I could never imagine how I would finish it. But the scary thing is, I will have to. I still have 1 more day to go. Gees, that is scary. I guess it's going to be a big night for me tonight.

CorelDraw

2006-10-13T19:35:00.000+10:00

I'm absolutely exhausted and completely demoralized. I tried to use the program CorelDraw to create a diagram for my assignment today. It was hard and I feel really stupid. Thinking how stupid I am compared to those surrounding me didn't really help things to get better either. This really sucks! And I'm not motivated to work at all.

Photos from Canberra

2006-10-12T14:44:00.000+10:00

It's been a while since my trip to Canberra but I just have a chance to post some photos up today. Here, it goes.

The top of the Australian Parliament house and the statue of the Queen.

Beautiful flower beds at the Floriade

The warm afternoon sun

The view towards the lake

Green leaves, brown seeds and blue sky

An impresive model of Canberra city

That's it for now. I'd better get back to work.
Cheers,

Secret gem in Indooroopilly

2006-09-25T16:18:00.000+10:00

It was a really nice weekend with sunny blue sky and we had planned to go to Bribie Island for camping. Unfortunately, poor Am just realized how far behind she was (and still is) with her thesis and stuffs so camping had to be called off. Hur....

Anyway, that was compensated by a nice picnic at a park in Indooroopilly on Sunday afternoon. We decided that the weather was to good to stay inside the house so we look up an interesting park nearby for lunch. I picked out a park called Sir John Chandler Park at the end of Meiers Street in Indooroopilly. It is next to Brisbane river but much quieter than the area around our house because there is no CityCat running past. There are good facilities, sheltered benches, barbeque, taps and etc. And best of all, there were not that many people at all. It was really peaceful and transquil. We had lunch and picked a shaded spot for a little afternoon snooze on the grass. I brought a big travel rug and pillows along so it was really comfortable.

So there it was, a little paradise we just discovered. We are definitely gonna go back there again. So that can be my motivation to finish all my works as quickly as possible so we can have nice weekends like that soon.

Canberra

2006-09-22T00:47:00.000+10:00

I went to Canberra on Tuesday to make a new passport at the Thai Embassy. Poor Jo had to wake up early to send me off at the airport at 6.30 am as my flight was scheduled to leave at 8.15. The traffic was not so bad so I had some spare time to plan for my travel in the capital city of Australia.

The plan touched Canberra Airport at about 10 am. I was going to take a shuttle bus into the city and make my way to the embassy after that. But luckily the lady at the information desk helped me find the embassy address and suggest me to take a cab. It cost about 20 dollars but was worth it as I later knew that it would take at least half an hour to walk from the city to the south side of the lake. Anyway, the passport procedure didn't take too long and I got to talk to some nice people at the embassy. One person later drove me to the Office of Educational Affair that takes care of my scholarship. The people at the office is also very nice and they brought me out for lunch in the city. I had a really tasty Combo Laksa at Noodle House, an Asian restuarant in Sydney Building. Yummy..

Then I got dropped off at the Parliament House by the kind 'Pi Pi'(Thai word for older people). I met up with Sophie, my lecturer's daughter, who works at a Ministry there. She is so lovely and friendly. Sophie showed me offices of the Ministers and also the one of John Howard, the Prime Minister. We got some drinks and went to the enclosed courtyard for a rest from all the walking. After we parted I wandered around the public gallery section a bit and headed off to the Floriade.

Floriade is an annual flower festival in Canberra to celebrate the arrival of spring. It took me about 30 minutes to walk there from the Parliament House. On the way, I passed by the old Parliament House and had to cross the lake. There are huge parklands in Canberra and great bike paths especially around the lake. Flower beds in Floriade are arranged into country themes. They are really beautiful but as it is an early period of the show, many of them didn't look quite impressive. After spending over an hour with the flowers, I went to the National Capital Exhibition which is basically next door. The audio-visual display of the creation of Australian national capital is very impressive. I wish I can do that sort of thing for a place in Thailand someday.

Well, after a good amount of walking along the lake, I contacted Sea, a fellow Thai scholar who studies at ANU. We went to a talk on Job Opportunity in Thailand at ANU and meet some more Thai people as well as people from other countries who are learning Thai. Then we went to have dinner at a Thai restuarant where Sea and her housemate usually work for. I had stire-fry chicken with bamboo and Sea had masman curry. We also had some glutenous rice with egg custard for dessert. Yummy, again. =)

A night on a couch at Sea's unit went alright although I didn't actually go to sleep until 2 am. Waking up to watch the news about military coup in Thailand at 1.30 was also interesting. I left Sea's place before 9 am and walked around in the city a bit to take some more photos. Then I caught an airport bus at 9.45 am to catch my 10.35 flight. The bus arrives to the airport at 10 am and my check-in went smoothly. That's the shortest trip I've ever travelled by air. But I kinda like how it makes me feel a bit like an on-the-move career person, so quick, effective and totally opposite to my real nature. =P

Ten canoes and rainy Saturday

2006-09-18T18:34:00.000+10:00

We were supposed to go to the Valley Festival at Chinatown on Saturday. But the weather was not so inviting to go standing outdoor watching music bands as the sky was covered with rain clouds so we decided to go to the movie instead. We went to watch Ten Canoes, a story of aboriginal people about how they used to live. It was.... different, I would say. It was very slow and there were not much in the storyline except some subtle jokes about marriage. Anyway, it was better than being locked up in the house.

So many things to do!

2006-09-15T13:46:00.000+10:00

Yeah, it's Friday! I had a meeting with my supervisor this morning which I didn't really have much to present except the 2 page introduction I have written. Well, I got some corrections to do which took me forever to get them right even though there were not that many. And since then, I haven't really done much which is not very good for my plan of finishing the draft for the thesis by the end of this month.

Anyway, it's almost weekend and we are going for lunch at the pizza cafe at the Schonell Theatre in a short while. Lew can't really work, Jo is hungry and I am not having a productive time anyway so I think we'd better off doing something else and leave Brett to work in peaceful and quiet environment. =P

And later on, we are going to play ten pin bowling with PRESS, our favourite student club. =) Yeah, it's hard being a student, so many distraction. =P Anyway, I shall not say too much about things that are not work-realted or else people might get the wrong idea. Hehehe. Back to work now.....

My UQ picture

2006-09-13T13:03:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago I was contacted to be in the photo session for UQ oversea promoting program or whatever marketing activity for the university. Well, they took my picture as well as many other students and supposedly we are going to be seen in brochures attracting international people to study here. I'm not quite sure if my picture would attract viewers or drive them away. =P Anyway, I got a free photo taken, fair deal. So here it is, Am at UQ.

Full on weekend

2006-09-12T18:53:00.000+10:00

Oh dear, I almost couldn't believe what a weekend I just had. Jo, Michelle and I left on Friday evening to camp near Mt. Warning so that we could climb up to see the sunrise on the summit. The detail is well provided in Jo's blog. It was fantastic despite the part of getting up at 3 am, 2 hour walk in the dark and freezing cold wind.

Then we went to Byron Bay in the afternoon. We got a good campsite at Clark's Beach which can look toward the sea. I'm sure Jo would put up a good text and photos in his blog about this so I won't repeat it. In summary, we had a nice walk to the headland and saw adorable dolphins under beautiful weather and had a great t-bone barbeque dinner with gourmet side dish.=)

It rained on Sunday and we had to pack up out tents in a rush but they got a bit wet anyway. We drove up to the lighthouse and wait for the rain to stop which ,luckily, it did. Although the weather was kinda crappy, we had an awesome time seeing whales from the most easterly point on the mainland Austalia. They were really wonderful. We saw cute cloud of vapour from sprouts after sprouts and the big splash of water resulting from multiple fin flapping action. We even saw the whales jumping out of the water fully which I believe called 'breaching'. It was so beautiful to see the arch of its dark back agaist the white color of its ventral part of the body even from such as far distance. I think we spent almost an hour watching and waiting for the whales to do some more cool tricks. =P

We had a nice fish&chips lunch on the beach and were accompanies by loads of seagulls. They were pretty funny. at about 2.30 pm, we were forced to head home as the rain poured down again but that's probably a good thing since that made us got back to Brisbane before dark.

Overall, it was a great weekend with too many good things to contemplate. Thanks to the excellent company of Jo and Shell, the experience was really special to me. =)

What did I do this week?

2006-09-08T12:33:00.000+10:00

Well, not much really. I had a great plan of working hard on my research but somehow it just didn't take off. I spent a lot of time procrastinating by searching for my friends on the internet just to see what they are up to (freaky, isn't it?) Then there was a bad news of the passing of Steve Irwin aka The Crocodile Hunter which shocked us all. And here I am, writing a post on Friday after spending quite a substantial amount of time visiting my old friend's blog.

I don't think I'll get much done today as we (Jo, I and Shell, our friend) are heading to Mt. Warning this evening. We plan to climb up to the summit of Mt. Warning for sunrise and go to Byron Bay on Saturday for a night out. So we'll see if our physical strength will be up to that.

Weekend without hot water and meeting the Ruffords

2006-09-05T15:16:00.000+10:00

When I got up at about 9.30 am on Saturday morning, I had a great plan of talking a warm shower and washing my hair. But I found out later that there is no hot water. Darn it! We first thought that it's just a temporary thing as our hot water system never works properly anyway. But it turned out to be a serious problem as when the plumber who came to 'have a go with it' found that there was not gas coming into the system. So, it seemed like there would be no hot water for at least till Monday as we have to wait for the plubmer who specialise in this thing to come.

Yeah, what a bummer! But luckily, we had planned to spend a weekend away somewhere else. Jo and I went with Tom to his parents' house up at Mooloolaba for Father's Day. We left on Saturday evening. We got a really warm welcome from the host and a great meal with BBQ beef, chicken, yummy baked potato, healthy greens and plenty of alcohol. =P

On Sunday, we started with bacon, eggs and delicious pancakes with loads of fruits. Then it's time to go to the beach. We spend a while there walking along the lively beach under the warm sun and looking at people. Jo and Tom went swimming but I'm too wussy to get into the cold water and big waves so I just sad and enjoy the weather on the beach. When we came back to the house, it's time for lunch. We got to meet the grandparents and the rest of the Ruffords which is really cool. Lunck was fabulous with copious amount of food. There were lamb, beef, chicken, ham and cheese schnitzel, pumpkin salad, another salad, Asian style noodle, spinach bake of some sort, plenty of bread and fruits. That's not the end yet. After that there were desserts which are apple pie with custurd, vanila slices (my favourite) and cake with cream. Oh my, it was the best family gatering I've ever attended in years!

Then we played a short backyard cricket game to help digest the food. And it's time for afternoon tea. We look at some video and photos and walked to the beach in the late afternoon. It was a really nice relaxing way to spend the weekend (except eating the food part =p). Finally, we left the lovely Rufford family's house and headed back to Brisbane. We arrived home at about 8 pm I think. There is still no hot water. But what the heck, we had an awesome weekend anyway. =)

Unproductive day

2006-09-01T16:33:00.000+10:00

I have a really hard time concentrating on my work today. I started my day with a nice morning and a meeting with my supervisor which went well. I know I would have to work hard(er) in this month if I want to finish writing my thesis before the end of October. I am not going to let the 'last minute syndrome' make me stressed out because the due date falls in the period shortly after my parents' visit. So my goal now is to work super hard and get the bloodything done!

But it seems like today is not a good start. I could hardly spend more than 5 minutes on my stuffs. I procrastinated a bit by googling pictures, names, people ant etc. It didn't really cheer me up but rather make my mood worse. I was pulled back in the old destructive thoughts that I have been trying to avoid. It wasn't good, I know. But I still let myself wander into it. The 'inclement' (new word I learned from Lew) weather also didn't help making things better.

Lunch was good though. Jo was really sweet and talkative so I couldn't let myself to degrade his mood by telling what kind of annoying thoughts I have been messing with. Well, it's probably not so bad after all. I'm still procrastinating and digging deeper into things that are not really useful to me. Okie, I think after I finish writing this, I'll go back to really do my work. I think I have enough of unproductive time today.

Bad day happens sometimes but if I can change it, I'd better do that, shouldn't I?

Rainy days

2006-08-31T14:22:00.000+10:00

It has been raining since the start of the week. And beleive it or not, I think we still have water restriction level 3 (no using hose outside the house) here is Brisbane!

Monday, it started to drizzle a little bit but we could still go out without an umbrella and have a good chance of coming back dry. Tuesday, we spent the whole day working at home, it did not rain much and we could go out for a nice afternoon walk. Wednesday, the weather got a bit more serious and decided that sufficient amount of rainfall would be good as it would make student life more exciting and challenging when they have to go to classes. Thursday, yeah, let it pour. It has been raining cats and dogs and my pants (jeans) got considerably wet when I walked to the nearby suburb for lunch with Jo. Well, the two of us only had one umbrella and with the strong wind, it merely fulfils its function of keeping us dry. And to top that off, I think my shoes (old sneakers) might have had small holes as I could feel my slightly damp socks by the time we got back to the office. It is still pouring but at least my pants and socks are getting dry (thanks to the aircon in jo's office which is often at extreme temperature level contrary to the outside environment.

Anyway, I just found this from Tom's blog, a website that can creat a Hiaku from a blog entry. So here is the Haiku composed from my bolg:

different matter
it's going to be tough
for me to 'open

And the word that I use the most often is ....Working!
I think that is really shocking.

Busy eating weekend

2006-08-28T10:38:00.000+10:00

Weekend was fabulous but quick. The title has already explained why it was so. =)

On Friday, Jo and I went to my friend's place for a dinner party. I didn't know how many people would be there but definitely didn't expect 15 people there! I'm not so much of a conversation maker in a big group so I felt pretty awkward at the begining. But since everyone was so friendly so it was not too difficult to mix in and we ended up having quite a good chat with a lot of people. There were like 7 countries among 15 people so it was really interesting. I think there were 2 Germans, 2 Americans, 4 Spanish, 4 Australians,1 British, 1 French and 1 Thai which is me, hehee. =D

My friend and her friend made German and Spanish dishes which were all really good. The Spanish food includes Tortilla which is like a thick omelet of potato slices and onions and fried crumbed chicken and boiled eggs which I don't know the name. The German dish is, of course, the famous fried sausage (brastwurst)with sour cabbage (sauerkraut) and mashed potato. In addition, there were also salad and the yummy desserts. We ate a lot but there still were so much food left so we got some sausages and sauerkraut to take back home too. =)

Saturday, I invited Jo's colleaques over to our place for dinner and partially to contribute to my research study as well. =P But food comes first, of course. I was going to clean up a bit but then Lew and Gemma rang me up to invite us to see the unit they bought which is nearby so I went there, poor Jo had to do some stuffs at uni so he couldn't come. Then I went with then to do the shoping, first for the dishwasher for their unit and then the stuffs we need for dinner. We went to Indooroopilly for that which has a very big shopping centre but it took forever to find a park. We came back to my flat at about 2 pm, Lew started making the pastry while I went off to the uni. There was an Indonesian Fair on that day and it happened to be on my way to the campus so I dropped by the food store there and ordered 'mee bakso'. It's a typical Indonesian dish that is made of noodles and meat balls (I assumed it was chiken). I put on some sauces and the chilli which was said to be 'very very hot' by the Indonesian lady that sell the food. I was glad I put only half a teaspoon of that stuff because it was extremely spicy, it made the soup taste much better though (even Jo agreed with me).

After lunch, I started cooking the dinner, that was about 3 pm. The menu included massaman curry with mutton, chicken satay, and sticky pork (I just got a recipe from recipezaar). The cooking wasn't done until 6.30 pm and I managed to add one more dish which is blanched bok choy with ginger soy sauce. I was a bit nervous about the food partly because I wasn't sure of what I was doing and also because most of the people who I invited for the dinner are quite good at and probably know more than me about cooking. Anyway, everyone seems to like the food and we even had a dessert prepared by Lew. It was blood orange tart which was a real treat. Then we sat down and have German schnapps to healp burning down all the food we ate. Hur, such a hard life. =P

Sunday, I did some cleaning and vacuuming since I didn't get to that before having people over for dinner on Saturday. Jo's friend, Shuan, whom he have know from Sydney was coming to our place to catch up and have a BBQ. The plan was T-bone steak on the coal BBQ which we got the idea from the last camping trip at Binna Burra with Micha and Wiebke (Jo's brother and his girlfriend). Jo got garlic bread and fresh corn to go with the steak while Tom made the spinach and pumpkin salad asa supplement. The meal was superb not mentioning the riverview under the warm afternoon sun from our balcony. We also have Tom's friend who dropped by and joined us for the nice afternoon tea as well.

It was such a relax and enjoyable time that makes me realise how lucky I have been. Although I wonder sometimes if it's just the luck or also the attitude of how people live their life...

My adventure in the Great Court

2006-08-24T14:12:00.000+10:00

Thursday would have been a typical, unexciting day if I hadn't been to the Great Court. I don't normally go out of the Catalyst Centre except for lunch or tea break. But today is special.

Thanks to my laziness and unwell feeling, I decided to take a walk with Jo to his weekly physical training and dropped by the Great Court in the hope to finish a chapter in a book. The weather is wonderfull with sunshine and warm temperature. I found a spot near a leafless tree (not dead but probably still hibernating) so I sat down and started to read. I think it must have been only a few minutes before there was a voice of a girl next to me saying 'Excuse me'. I looked up and there she was, about a feet away and smiling at me. She looked a bit reluctant at first but then decided to ask if she could talk to me. Hm.. I had no problem, of course, but just wanted to be a little bit difficult so I asked what she would like to talk to me about (although I think I might have already had a rough idea by that time. =P)

Well, she didn't really answer but just said that she would like to talk to people and make new friends. I think it was a bit unsual but I admire her gut of coming to a stranger to start a conversation (and also looking an excuse for not having to read my text book =P) so I invited her to sit down. At the biginning the conversation was just a typical 'where you are from', 'what you do'. I could roughly guess that she is from Singapore since I lived there for three years and quite familiar with the unique style of English that was spoken there.

Then the fun started, she asked about my experience in Australian and my social activities. I think that might have been the point where I was so sure about what it was leading to. I felt a bit bad that I might not fulfil the criteria of her ideal target group since I appear not to have negative experience that make me absolutely hate living here. It was almost the total opposite actually. I told her how I love being here although it is so different from home and I don't have that many friends as I did elsewhere. But then it was more about the quality, not so much of quantity. I had some bad experience with bad people and landlord trying to rip me off but funy enough, they are not Australians but those migrating from other countries. And I always found the way to deal with those things so that bad people didn't have an easy time walking over me, and they actually didn't or rather couldn't. It was tough but that's how life is and I'm glad to experience and get through it.

Well, this lady's experience of coming here must have been quite different. So she started sharing with me how she found the strength to go through all the difficulties through God and how people from her husband's church group really help her out in time of need. It was a nice thing to here and quite interesting how someone belief so strongly in something that she felt the need of sharing it to other people. I admire the good, constructive things that each individual believes. But I guess I would also respect people's decision of choosing what they believe too.

The conversation went on for about an hour. She gave me her email address and contacts. I gave her mine just in case she would like to talk and do other things that not neccessarily have to do with religion. I always like to make new friends and it would be nice if that can happen without any agenda behind it.

So that's my litte adventure outside of my usual habitat (in front of a computer in the office). It wasn't so much about physical action but more about spiritual and mental aspect of my life. It actually gave me a chance to remember and realize the experience, personality and attitudes I have gained that otherwise would have been overlooked. I almost forgot how much I like the way I am, the decision I made, and a lot of silly things I did defying all the strategic guidelines and trends. Even though I am still far away from being an ideal me or a successful, money-making career woman, I really feel proud of it, somehow. I guess that's just what defines me, who I am which makes me where I am! Hehehehe, a bit confusing but that's me! =P

Time flies

2006-08-23T17:22:00.000+10:00

It has been a while since my last post. Yes, time flies, especially when you want it to slow down.

I haven't got much done in my research which is supposed to be in the writing up process soon. I did manage to have a focus group for that though but analysing the data and making connection to other part of the the study is a different matter. It's going to be tough for me to do that especially when I'm still confused and unconvinced about the stuffs I'm doing. Hur.....

But anyway, my great achievement during the last two weeks was buying airticket for my parents to come to Australia which is awesome. I've waited for quite a while, almost too late, to do that but still managed to get one of the best deals for them. So, it's going to be super cool, I can't wait for them to get here. =)

Well, it's 5.30 pm, sound like time to go home. I wonder what we are going to have for dinner or 'tea' tonight. Hm....

Enjoyable evening and Pavlova

2006-08-11T09:05:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was quite a tiring day for me as I started looking at the tourism statistics of Thailand to contribute to the discussion im my research. I had done some work on that earlier in the year but the bloody thing got updated and now I face an almost totally different set of figures which can potentially force me to 'open another big can of worms' to make sense of them. This is why I don't like numbers!

Well, after bombarding my brain with spreadsheets after spreadsheets, I went home feeling ansolutely exhausted and demoralised. The question of how on earth am I going to finish this research thing in time and still leave some chance for travelling before leaving Australia kept occopying my mind. Although I keep telling myself that I'm going to have to concentrate and work hard, reality often goes against my will. Well, since there are so many details in life that I can't or wouldn't want to let it just pass by, sometimes deciding what comes first is just not quite that easy. =P

Anyway, when I am in that kind of mood (which is quite often), i.e wondering about my existence, stand, or capability of myself in the world, it's helpful to have a nice home to come back to. My nice home is not a big, expensive palace but a cosy place where I feel really comfortable living in it. Yup, I like my two-bedroom flat with a good size kitchen, big living area and a long balcony facing Brisbane River and, of course, my full-of-sense-of-humor housemates very much. =D

We had some interesting and entertaining discussions about what were written in the uni free magazine. After having quite a laugh from the discussion, it's time for Rex, our (or rather my) favorite TV show. We also had some bread with smoked salmon, raw ham (Schinken)and some pate for dinner to go along with the Austrian setting of Rex. Then it's time for desert! I didn't really have anything in mind but we have to use up the cream soon so I went for Pavlova. It's not a bad choice, just that I should have started making it earlier so it would be ready to eat in that evening. Making the mixture didn't take much time, it's the baking that did. Oh well, we just have to save it for breakfast (which we did). =P

But in the end, we did have some Port to replace our desert craving, thanks to Tom. And again, another enjoyable night at our home sweet home. =)

Wedding

2006-08-09T19:00:00.000+10:00

Yesterday, I didn't get anything done in terms of work or study but I did manage to bake some brownies and food to bring to a wedding. I started my day late by not getting up until 9 am. Then I wrapped the present for the wedding but not untill after spending about half an hour looking for a ribbon! Then I started thinking about what to make more to bring to the event and came up with brownies. But then I realized that there would be cake so bringing additional sweets might be a bit illogical. I made the brownies anyway which turned out to be a pain since I misjudged the time of the baking.

At about 2 pm, Tom drove with Katharina, Jo and me to the wedding barbeque at Mt. Cootha. The bride and groom were not there yet when we arrived and I was really hungry since I didn't have any breakfast or lunch so I nibbled a bit on the food (and so did a lot of other people). =P It's a simple and relaxing reception. We stayed there until about 6 pm then drove home feeling absolutely exhausted. This is even just by being a guest of the event, I can't imagine how tiring it would be to be the host. So, that was my first wedding through friends that I've ever attended. I guess my social period of this sort of event has just started, how terrible, I mean terrific is that! =P

Antique store

2006-08-07T10:32:00.000+10:00

My weekend was pretty packed. Saturday, we had a friend coming to our flat at 9.30 to get boxes for her stuffs as she is moving. Then we had breakfast, the usual yogurt and fruits and specially, home-made Anzac biscuits prepared by Jo. It was simple yet really nice breakfast for Saturday morning. Then Jo, I and Tom took a trip to antique store in Paddington to find a wedding present for Tom's collegue. It was a huge store. I was really surprised at first because the entrance looked quite small but once I walked inside, it was massive! The place must have been a theatre or some kind of hall in the past. I have never had so much fun looking at great variety of things in a store like that before. It was really cool!

In the end we got a set of fish knives and forks that look antique and yet functional. It was chosen by Jo, approved by Tom and polished by me. Yeah, I spent an hour on Sunday night polishing those pices of cutlery until they were all shiny. Jo reckoned I'm a bit crazy but I'm quite proud of it. Hehehe. =p

Friday! Yeh!!

2006-08-04T14:14:00.000+10:00

I had a meeting with my supervisor today so I got up early to work on some stuffs to make it look like I have been working hard. =p Well, it went well although in the end I felt like I shouldn't have done so much becasue there is only going to be more and more to do. =S

Anyway, it's Friday and weekend is coming! I can hardly wait to wake up thinking, hey, it's Saturday, I don't have to worry about getting any work done today! Well, not that I have been working full time like people who have a real job and have to get to work before 8 am and can't get out until 5 pm. But it kinda feels the same, even worse when you don't get paid. Or to be precise, you kinda paid money to get yourself into this situation. It's call Research Study. =S

Finally get started!

2006-08-03T09:26:00.000+10:00

After a deep philosophical discussion about Blogging with my housemates, I finally have my own blog. Well, I wouldn't have started this if not because I want to pose a comment on a blog of other people. Have to thank my itchy hands. =P
So here it goes.....