Sydney

Can't believe I actually forgot to do this.

Just over 2 months ago, I visited Sydney to attend the Backyard Academy brought by Notforsalecampaign.org. It is a conference about human trafficking. So I flew to Sydney and went into the Italian district of the city known as Leichardt. It is a beautiful place, very peaceful and spacious, quite unlike downtown.





It's just gorgeous when the sun rises.





I did mention that it is an Italian district and so Italian delis are common and so are pasta restaurants. Much of their bread have ricotta cheese, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, artichokes, anchovies, parma ham, etc. And they aren't very expensive. So I spent my days eating a lot of Italian sandwiches and breads. I lost some weight by the way.



I had a day free before I flew home and I took the liberty to visit the city.





The Sydney Opera House was packed. It wasn't only a tourist attraction but also a nice hangout for the locals. Quite a bit of Australia's population are Asians too. So it is common to see a Malaysian, Vietnamese or Hong Konger, or some dude from China in town.



And there it is the iconic Habour Bridge against the evening sun. I really appreciated the sun. You would too if you're in the middle of winter.

Oh, did I tell you those pictures were taken with my iPhone? My camera wasn't with me when I went.

Perth

I officially miss Perth because I'm perspiring at nothing and breathing in steam. It was a good change of climate, even more so because we just went through one of the coldest winters in years. Fortunately but sadly for me, there wasn't a hail storm to look at. Anyway, apart from pigging out and shopping, the best times were exploring sights with Daniel and Ernest. After all the trip was to live with them for 10 days.









That's UWA, which is the University of Western Australia. The campus looks stunning. The first thing I thought after walking through a good portion of it was that it qualifies as a good filming location. They even have ducks swimming in a pond outside the cafe and a place for peacocks to dwell! Coincidentally, as we were checking out the peacocks, one of them decided to woo a hen and began strutting his stuff.







I decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood too. Since the house we were staying in is near the Swan river, we walked down in time to catch the sunset. We met this lady down the street who was also from Singapore. She had migrated decades back and now lives with her son. She was pruning her lemon tree and clearing dead leaves around her rose bushes. The best part was, she kept a vegetable and herb garden in her back yet and also have a coop full of chickens.







We went to Bell Rapids which is about an hour's drive up north east. This is where Swan river starts. This is also where crazy people do white water rafting. The water was quite shallow on the day we went. Usually on days following heavy rainfall, the current is crazy.







Kings Park is THE place to be in Perth. It's like Fort Canning, Mount Faber, Botanic Gardens, Bishan Park put together, except still better. We went there for a luxurious breakfast one morning and set in the park by the pond to absorb the sun and crisp air.







Fremantle is one of THE places to be in Perth, at least for me. Geographically, its the place where Swan river goes into the Indian Ocean. Fremantle is famous for its markets and museums cos it's a heritage site, and of course seafood. Kailis was where we had thefreshestseafoodiveevereateninmylife.

Some of the other good things we did was visiting Subiaco church. It was a great blessing to be there. Also the wine tasting was awesome and not to mention chasing kangaroos.

Life's Reflections

Somehow it's always grim when I think of it. But imagine an old man thinking back about his life. Still, there is little room to be colourful.

The first of Marina Bay

On the weekend Marina Bay Sands was opened, we went there for a stroll. Gotta love the bridge and the spectacular city view. The place is huge and objectively very nice. Otherwise it looks like a doomsday set to me and the casino looked dodgy. >.> Anyway, we were wowed by the interior that we didn't take pictures inside.









And finally... what does this look like to you?

Disturbing eh?

A Time to Think

Admittedly, I was reluctant to go for the leader's retreat during the weekend. But as always, it did much good. I guess it's that time I need occasionally to sit and think about all that I'm doing, both in ministry and in pursuing my dream.

Retreat was at this resort right at the end of Singapore and I guess it was good in a way. Being totally out of the city allowed me some clarity of thought without distractions, and for once in a many weeks, I could pray without rushing.

Then I went out and wandered around as I always do. Walking is therapeutic for me. Then I decided to take out my 3.2 megapixel phone camera and snap.






Phone cameras are downright lousy. It was hard to snap any good pictures at all. So the colour was off, the exposure was hideous and the focus was non-existent. Nevertheless, walking and looking at stuff made me realise I had not admired God for a long time. Maybe that's why I can't wait to bring out my camera for a walk again. Somehow it makes me think of God and appreciate the things He created.

Cherries make my world go round

Cherries are one of my favourite fruits but I don't eat them often, particularly because it's expensive. But I found some on sale so I got them. I love cherries since I was a kid, especially the canned ones, those that you find on cakes. No prizes for guessing why. To me they were the sweetest things on earth. Anyway, when I grew up a little more, I was fed fresh cherries instead and I loved them.

On the side note, cherries contain potent antioxidants and have anti inflammatory properties. They are rich also in vitamin C. Plus one of my favourite desserts is the Cherry Jubilee, which consists of fresh cherries flambéed in liquor and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's unique to a Russian restaurant, Shashlik.

I found these cherries cheap and appealing because they seem to have a perfect dark shade of red and their skins reflected a natural shine. I felt compelled to take a picture. If you look carefully enough, you may even see my reflection in the cherry.



On my way home one evening last week, I came across my favourite stray cat below my block. She had been around for a while and she's very obviously aging. I remember why I liked her. She doesn't get into fights with the other cats often. The strays in my neighbourhood gets into a fight every other day, probably because the estate is over-populated. Cats are everywhere. And they will stick around because my neighbours feed them regularly.

So that evening I sat there and played with her and watched her clean herself and took this picture. She has inspired me to go out and keep a photo journal of strays because some of them are really beautiful cats, like her. And I remember taking this picture of her some years back.

The Dragonfly

I was sifting through my photos and found these two which I had taken at the Bukit Batok Nature Reserve of two dragonflies.



Dragonflies never fail to amaze me. Beautiful and attractive, yet fierce and vicious. Perhaps that's why they are named the dragon-fly. They are predators hunting primarily mosquitoes, and other small insects like ants and flies. So basically they are like pest busters. I wonder if they would put up a fight with a praying mantis or my personal nemesis in the insect world, the roach.

My tutor used to tell me how she would go to the pond to catch dragonflies when she was young. Once she managed to grab a dragonfly by its tail, but it turned around and delivered a painful bite to her finger. Since then she didn't want to mess around with them. I've also heard from NS guys that they use dragonflies as wards against mosquitoes. I thought that was pretty ingenious.

Dragonflies are found mostly around lakes, ponds, rivers and wetlands because they spend the 'larvae' stage of their lives in water. This stage can last as long as five years for larger species, whereas smaller species experience this stage between two months to three years. Another cool fact I learnt about dragonflies is that they can't walk. They have six legs like all other insects but they are only able to fly. I guess the fact that they have dual pairs of wings make up for their inability to walk. Now I know why dragonflies keep still after landing, but are swift and quick in the air.

And that's about all the little educational bits of information on the dragonfly. ^^

Sentosa

This is the first time ever I've been to Sentosa for the sole purpose of taking pictures. And to make it even more special, I had the privilege to go with Meiyen. Meiyen and I are sort of like kindred spirits. Only both of us would bother to travel just for the sake of photography.

So we met early on a Monday morning and headed for Sentosa. For a full three hours, we strolled along Siloso and Palawan beach. The sky was clear and the sun offered optimal lightning for our pictures.









These are just few of what I took. There are some pictures that need some editing, as much as I hate to edit. Despite the fact that I had enjoyed my walk, I didn't think I was 'on form' that day with the camera. My pictures were not well taken. Same went for church camp. Certain pictures didn't turn out as well as I had hoped for them to be. I think I just need more practice.



This cross was given to me many many years ago by Miss Alicia Boo. I wonder if she still remembers this cross. On the little piece of paper are the words "Because He came" written on it. That is why this is one of the most, if not the most meaningful gift ever given to me. And why is it on this post? Thats because I carried the cross all the way to Sentosa (not that its very heavy) and planted it by the beach for this picture.