helloooo perth

and alex, and simon.

Peter Pan Syndrome

Phuket (image from jetsetter.com)

As an undergrad, I knew it was exam season when I began feverishly planning my post-exam getaways. Am slightly ashamed to admit that I’d be at the copier frantically Xeroxing the relevant lonely planet, instead of the textbooks I should well and truly have had my nose in. So after consistently spending eight semesters that way, it’s little surprise that the escapist in me has carried this guilty pleasure to the big bad working world. Less than two weeks to go before I’m done with my training contract and I’ve been spending every free moment (outside office hours, I should add) plotting where to go and what to do. Headed to Perth the day after I’m done at the firm, and then to Sydney over the National Day pseudo long weekend. After that, I’m tempted to take up a dear friend’s offer to be his guest at Turi Beach and drag granny along for some gma-gdaughter bonding.  Also currently torn between Phuket and Bali for early September. Being especially masochistic and trawling through every single deal imaginable on www.fascinating.travel in an attempt at creating my own spreadsheet to compare the various specials. Guess short jaunts are the way to go in this pre-departure period. Seeing how I’ll be away for the foreseeable future, I’m all for maxing out my year-long Australian visa and exploring the South East Asian backyard.

Psyched and counting down the days :)

Now if only the pasture I’ve been dreaming of being relegated to would materialize…

Bali (image from jetsetter.com)

less than three weeks to

 

and

and

but sadly not nick who has since had a sea change and moved to melby for his first job!

alex's flying visit to singers left me massively missing my friends down undah and what better way to celebrate the end of pupilage than swinging south for a couple of days.

can't wait to see team australia on their home turf!

quite accidentally

 (photo from pooja)

i happened to be a small part of history.

well, sort of.

had a hankering for crab bee hoon and met some like-minded friends for dinner at ghim moh block 10. it was a short trip down memory lane, having gone to a high school, that used shipping containers as classrooms, in the very same neighbourhood.

sometime between slurping the xo soup and chomping on har cheong gai i heard the horn of a train that had my hair standing on end. hadn't planned on being around to witness the last train out of tanjong pagar, but on my way to the red house bus stop i used to have to cross the train tracks and the old rusting trains were a big part of my going home routine.

the railway is also part of another important memory to me. the first holiday i ever went on with just friends i.e. no adults was to KL before starting university. being the backpackers on a budget, the eight of us took the overnight train there and i was almost refused entry into malaysia because in my excitement i went a little trigger happy at the customs checkpoint. oops. not one of my prouder moments but a milestone all the same. 

then i suddenly realised i'd friends on the last train and thought of them clinking flutes and sipping their champers. suddenly my xo fish soup didn't cut it anymore :(

breakfast in the east

what began at 530am only got better and better as the surprise escalated. in the span of four hours, i was the lucky beneficiary of weeks of meticulous plotting and planning, and by 930am, it felt like a whole new world.

and just because i <3 surprises, here's a list of happy things!

surprise #1: "breakfast in the east" was merely a ploy to lure me to the airport

surprise #2: all my bags had been packed and there was a surprise holiday in store

surprise #3: "dispensation" had been granted by the absolutely bestest boss on earth

surprise #4: ho chi minh was not the final destination

surprise #5: it involved a propeller plane...

surprise #6: the prospect of three days in a villa i'd been dreaming of for months but never thought i'd stay at

is it any wonder that by noon i was already delirious? :)

little slice of paradise

never have i felt more inclined to clone myself and leave the original me in villa 117

organic

food and local produce as far as possible is very important to me. and i'm proud to say that we went green at the resort by sipping our drinks out of lemongrass stalks (no plastic!) and eating local and organic as much as possible. the burst of freshness and sheer dedication to preserving the natural flavour went a long way and i'm so glad the place was picked for its extensive and excellent cuisine.

we're here for holiday

and not to get alcohol poisoning..."

famous last words.

breaksfast for champions

must surely include home made preserves that were so tasty i spontaneously sprouted a sweet tooth! it took every ounce of self-restraint to stop myself from eating straight from the communal jars, like the barbarian i am.

tropical storms

are my favourite kind of weather. there's nothing like a storm rolling in at lightning quick speed and the sudden gusts of wind to send us all running indoors for shelter. would've loved to have remained outside and exposed to the elements but didn't want to channel crazy woman and scare the lovely resort staff. but it was a majestic display of nature and her might and the pitter patter of raindrops sure beats the pitter patter of tiny feet.

 

i was so bummed to have to leave :( but appreciated the very thoughtful upgrade to a jet (look ma, no propellers!) for the flight back. 

nostalgia max

exactly a year ago, on 9 may 2010, i began my six week graduation holiday. began with cruise up and then back down the seine on a barge, before switching mode of transportation and road trippin' tuscany for a fortnight, eating and drinking till i almost burst at the seams. back to paris for a glorious few days, then off to stockholm to revisit my second home and all the friends i'd made on exchange a mere six months before. from stockholm, things got exciting as i solo tripped across spain. well, tell a lie, it was just barca, valencia and madrid. and as luck would have it, i'd bump into friends who happened to be eurotrippin' at the same time that i never really felt like i was on my own. after the pseudo-solo adventure, i'd the privilege of being a houseguest with famille makinadjian in aix-en-provence. they were the most gracious hosts a girl could ask for! concluded the grad trip back in paris, in my home away from home with famille bartel.

can't believe how fast the year's past! and i'm getting all emo nemo thinking about last summer :( in fact, i'm ashamed to admit that i've trawled the june archive over at mysterymeatballs and maybe you'd like to revisit one of my happiest times ever with me :)

p.s.

needs no introduction but is one of my favourite places to be on a sunday afternoon. was about to say 'hideaway' but just today i bumped into two friends so maybe it's a poorly kept secret ;) interestingly, just to digress, one friend was a belgian diplomatic and he and his wife are going to french polynesia via new zealand. turned green with envy on the spot and spent the rest of the afternoon masochistically trawling through conde nast plotting my next get away. am now determined to go to french polynesia at some point. strange how before this afternoon i didn't even know it existed but as i type, it's almost at no. 1 on my to visit list. and the other friend i bumped into is a fabulous creative type and i think i just scored myself a free museum tour :) so maybe chance meetings aren't all that bad - one new holiday goal and a freebie i can cash at leisure. can't complain!