Girl . Lake Wanaka . Summer 2009 click photo to enlarge.
I was touched by an angel
In a sunny afternoon
The innocence in her eyes
It touches my heart
So pure, so full of hope.
I wish to grasp the moment
Hold it close to my heart
Still, it starts to diminish, as time goes by
Though, I’ll never forget that beautiful encounter
The sunny rays from an angel
希冀
在妳眼中閃爍的希冀
有一種純真的感動
我想把它緊緊地抓住
放進口袋裡
但那些真摯的年歲
終究還是 漸行漸遠
Mid-air . 2009 click photo to enlarge.
Where has she gone, you wonder.
To the grandeur of an adventure or in the mist of mysterious waves;
To the depth of hidden treks or the exotic land?
Where, where has she been to?
To the grand central of the world stage or that neverland where dreams are made of?
It’s grand, it’s dense, it’s a jubilant of magnificent.
All great things are worth a little wait.
Don’t you agree?
Oh the things you’ll see when she’s back,
The great tales she’ll tell.
She promises it won’t be long, just a little while longer.
Here, she bids you good night, for the first time in this new beginning of visual explosions.
‘I’ll be back’, her voice echoes over and yet again.
Yummy, yummy, yummylicious! click photo to enlarge
What is that little delight that brightens up cold days like this? This of course, my little winter comfort food. Yes, it’s kiwi season again! No, not that bird! The fruit! The green sourly fruit that makes our mouth water. Winter is the best time to savour this sour sweet fruit. The season normally starts in late May, early June. (I know, I know, I was meaning to write about this in June, terrible procrastinator that I am!) Long post, click to continue! 
Here are some photos taken at Devonport back in the summer. Devonport is a maritime village with lots of old time charms. A very relaxing town located in Auckland North Shore, it houses some unique shops, cafes and old character homes. The charming old town with rich heritage has a very nostalgic feeling to it. There are also three volcanoes situated here. This is one of the best places that offers a spectacular view of Auckland city in my opinion. Great place to hang out on a hot summer day. Devonport is just a 10 minutes ferry ride away from downtown Auckland, or alternately a half an hour drive from Auckland central.
The iconic Esplanade Hotel on the waterfront. It was built in 1903.
The breathtaking view of Auckland city and harbour bridge from Mt Victoria.
Clock tower on waterfront.
A fish boat docked at the pier.
View of Auckland city from the pier.
Many people would come here to fish on a summer day. I wonder what type of fishes they get here.
Ive been wanting to visit Las Vegas ever since I watched the TV series CSI and Las Vegas. It is such a vibrant and colourful city with its extensive range of activities. The city that never sleeps, and with things so over-the-top yet strangely exciting. Where else in the world would you find Eiffel Tower, The Pyramid, Statue of Liberty and Sphinx all in the same place?! Other than that, Ive always had a thing about hotels, and its sufficient to say that Las Vegas is one city where the hotels are one of the many major attractions. It is definitely on my next-to-travel list.
Before I travel, I like to do some research on my destination and get to know more about it, like some background, local attractions, restaurants and entertainment etc. It can be troublesome to look for all these information at times, but I found them all in SiteStep, a one stop search engine for all your travel needs. They provide comprehensive information of everything you need before traveling to a city, like hotel reservations, various Cheap Airlines to get there, and even vacation packages. Its a very convenient site to help plan your holiday. With its user friendly interface and functions, now even vacation planning can be easy and fun.
I came cross this post over at Whatever that reminds me of a similar incident during our tour in Melbourne with my parents. We were on the way to Great Ocean Road, and made a toilet stop at a small cafe. As usual, we took our turn to go to the 2 toilets at the back. I found the lock to be a bit loose and hard to unlock, but didn’t think any of it. So there we were, me and my parents sitting in front having a cup of tea in relaxing mood when suddenly we heard some banging sound coming from the back. So we followed the sound. ‘Help me! I can’t get the door to open!’. There was MR K being locked inside the toilet! WAHAHAHA! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laugh out loud as much as I did. (wahaha). ‘But did you turn the hook? Just turn it!’ Oh the ever so helpful wife was enthusiastically giving some useful instruction as usual, but to no avail, he tried for a good 10 minutes and the lock would not budge. We came to the concussion that he had to spend the rest of his night there and promptly left. The end.
Haha, lame joke attempt. Of course we didn’t. By then the owner of the cafe noticed the few strange Asians crowding in front of the toilet and came to check. He was really embarrassed when he found out his trap of a toilet is holding a hostage inside. He too, attempted to help by giving the same instruction, but how many ways can one turn a toilet knob? It is either turning clock wise or anti-clock wise. So he went and took out his tool box and attempted to do some serious damage take out the lock. Still the toilet decided it is longing for company and decided to hold the hostage longer. By now, we were all in hysterical laughters, with someone holding the camera frantically making the moment a piece of trivia material. All while MR K was sweating it out inside in total darkness, also in hysterical laughter. Why in total darkness? Because the toilet apparently had a time sensitive light switch to reserve electricity, so it went off after a few minutes. Haha.
Finally, the cafe assistance came to the rescue and tried to safe the day by flinging his body against the door to force it open. You’d think the door will just bang open, but no! Kicking at it didn’t help either. That was one tough door I tell you! At the end, it was the combination of banging, hammering and prying with screwdriver that finally did the trick. MR K was finally free!! It was certainly the ‘highlight‘ of our trip. Now every time we talked about the trip, someone will inevitably say ‘remember the time when MR K was locked in the toilet?’ then burst out laughing. Wait, that’s not all, there’s a video clip to saviour the previous memory over and over again, in years to come. Heh! *queued evil laughters*
On the first day of Chinese New Year, all the guests in Pan Pacific Singapore were greeted with lion & dragon dance performances and a live calligraphy show. I have lost count on how many years since I have not seen this traditional way of Chinese New Year celebration. Probably since I came to NZ 7 plus years ago. Of course, there were the rare occasions where we saw one or two lion dances in the yearly Santa parade or CNY fair, but sad to say, they were never good.
I really miss the good old days where the lions went house-to-house on first day of Chinese New Year. Us kids would always be dressed in our best new year clothes, waking up early in the morning, waiting for the lion dance team to come from the back of a lorry. Those are the greatest part of my Chinese New Year childhood memories. So imagine my excitement when I knew that there was going be a lion dace performance at the hotel foyer in new year day! 
So, off I went, first thing in the morning, anticipating a great show. And, I was not disappointed, what a great show it was. At around 11:30am (half an hour late, duh!), the lions came. There were four of them, all southern style (you can read more about lion dances here), but somehow three went MIA and only one stayed for the performance. The other three must have gone to other parts of the hotel. Anyhow, the one was good enough for me. What a great performance it was. My heart was all pumping with great joy. It was then, in a long long time, I felt the Chinese New Year spirit return in me.
(There was also a dragon dance performance but it was nothing to write home about.)
Hehe, feeling a little overwhelmed with nostalgia. Anyway, as you’d imagine, I took A LOT of photos, have to post them up in 2 parts. Here is part 1 for your viewing pleasure.
We stayed at the Pan Pacific Singapore hotel for about a week during Chinese New Year. The hotel is located at Marina Bay and adjacent to Marina Square and Suntec City. This was not the first time that I stayed at this hotel. I kept coming back for their fantastic customer service; from their efficient and friendly staff to the great ambiance. I have stayed in a fair share of hotels along the years, and I must say, for a 20 year-old hotel, they’ve done a great job in maintaining their facilities and an even greater job in training their staff members. Everyone I encountered had big smiles on their faces, and were always ready to offer their help.
During the stay, I found some questionable discoloration on one of the bath towels. I rang the reception area to notify them about it. An assistant manager was sent up right away to have a look at it and apologised profusely for the little overlooked detail. Half an hour later, a complimentary fruit platter was sent up! What more could one have asked for?! We are mighty impressed by the amazingly pleasant experience we had there. Highly recommended!
This photo was taken during my stay in May, before I left for New Zealand. We stayed on the executive business floor which offers free use of broadband at their business centre.
The complimentary fruit platter that was sent to us right after the minor mishap.
View of the half-constructed Singapore Flyer from the balcony. It is said to be the biggest flyer in the world and expected to be completed by early 2008.
There were hundreds, or maybe even thousands of lanterns being hung down from the floors above.
