A trip to Perth

Grumpy suggested we make a trip to Perth to visit his friends who were flying over from Malaysia. I thought it was a good idea as well and jumped at the opportunity to visit my friend Michelle whom I haven't seen in about 8 years.

Also, I was looking forward to this trip, which was in December because right after our honeymoon in January, we have been travelling around to places solo, which is not always fun! So it was nice to be able to board a flight and travel to a new place together as a couple!

I normally take charge of all the boring stuff in our relationship, such as booking flights, organising hotels, etc. But because I was in KL for work at that time, Grumpy made the effort to book and pay for the flights on his own. I was quite pleased.

Until I found out that we were not sitting together in the plane because he tried to save a couple of dollars by not securing our seats earlier. So we were seated in the same row, but separated by the aisle. It was a 4 hour flight!

We were so sleepy because we slept at around 2.30am after the U2 concert, and the taxi came to pick us up to go to the airport at around 5.30am that same morning.

The first day at Perth, we just relaxed and visited some breweries at Swan Valley. It was nice to be able to meet Michelle's two gorg doggies, Momo and Coco.

Day two, we decided to go to Rottnest Island. Rotto is 19km away from Freemantle. Its actually not that far, but because there are speed limits along the Swan river, the journey takes about 1.5 hours from the jetty in Perth.

Check out the water and how clear it is.

Cars are not allowed in the island. So the only way to get around in the island is by cycling. Cycling proved to be quite challenging due to the various inclines. I enjoyed it though, hours of sweating in RPM class has finally paid off.

Unfortunately, my other 3 island buddies struggled and were found walking (and swearing) most of the time, while pushing the bike instead. FAIL!

One thing that Perth is famous for, among the Asian community (in my opinion), is the Corica Apple Strudel. These apple strudels are made by an Italian pastry shop and you need to be booked at least a day in advance to get hold of the strudels, which I did not do. Thankfully, we were round the corner, I gave them a call, and they said they had some in stock for me to take home to Melbourne.

A mugshot of Grumpy with the strudels. Haha

The final day in Perth, our lovely hostess decided to take us to Freemantle, or what the locals call Freo, which also serves as a busy port.

We had fish and chips by the pier. If there was one thing both Grumpy and I loved about the food in Perth, it would be the delicious mussels. You can get mussels anywhere, and it was so fresh and bursting with flavour! The mussels were not big, but instead much smaller size than the ones we get in Melbourne. And that's what I like about them.

Also, back home, one of our usual hang out spots is Little Creatures at Brunswick Street. And because we were in Freo, the 'real' home of Little Creatures, it was no surprise that we stop by to have a few beers and just relax.

A big thank you to Michelle for letting us stay at her house, and driving us back and forth to so many places in the quest of yummy food! We had such a lovely time in Perth!

U2

It was quite long ago when I found out U2 was coming to Australia. My boss Belgian Chocolates told me about it, and he, like a typical fan, bought their tickets as soon as it went on sale online. A few months later, he got posted to Kuala Lumpur unexpectedly for two months. He refused to go initially, with an excuse that he already bought tickets to U2. Its U2 man, come on! His boss finally arrived at a compromise, whereby he goes to KL for that two months, and our company will fly him back to Melbourne for a night or two, just so that he can attend this concert. Sometimes it really amuses me how blatantly they spend money like that.

Out of the blue, two days before the first U2 concert, Grumpy rings me up at work and says to me "Do you want to go to U2?" I mean, I'm not really a fan. He tells me he has two free tickets from work and that they were really good tickets. Hell YEAH I want to go to U2's concert! Only thing is that the concert is on the night before our flights to Perth the next morning. Ah well we will manage. The tickets cost $300 each. I rang Belgian Chocolates in KL to tell him about it, and he says to me "I hate you right now" muahahahahahaha

We were so flat out with work that evening. We were still in the office past 6.30pm, and finally we made a quick dash out the office, and met up straight at Etihad stadium. We did not even have time to grab some dinner before the concert. Usually the main act only appears at 9pm, but because Jay-Z was opening for U2, we wanted to make sure we did not miss the opening performance!

Dopey was so jealous we got free tickets. He insists that he was more of a U2 fan than I was, he kept saying to me "You don't even know any of their songs!!!" That is sooo NOT true! Of course I know some of U2's big hits! I must admit, usually before any concert, I will listen to the CD religiously so that I know every song that the singer/group performs. But because this was quite last minute, I did not have enough time to do my homework!

I was told that U2's concerts are one of the most expensive concerts to produce... hence the expensive price tag.

Bono at the start of the concert.

This is one of my favourite shots of him, under the spotlight! He really is an amazing singer, so brilliant and passionate! He has been named by Time magazine as one of the most influential people in the world. I loved loved loved his Irish accent of course..

The U2 360 degrees concert Space Station. 60,000 people turned up for their first show in Melbourne that night.

The Space Station lit up in many different colours through out the night, it was very entertaining! I have been to many other concerts before but this was really very special!

U2 has plenty of hit singles! The older crowd would prefer The Joshua Tree album.. or Achtung Baby? Grumpy was quite surprised because even he knew many of the songs they performed that night. My favourite song they performed that night (for me personally anyways) is 'Elevation'! So here's a video I recorded..

Elevation - U2 360 deg concert at Etihad Stadium from Jules Ng on Vimeo.

I had such an awesome time that night. The show was brilliant and I will definitely go for another U2 concert again...!

2010 in review and on to 2011

I was meant to post this a few days earlier, but I have been so busy! I still want to list down the highlights of 2010 for myself.. it has been such an eventful year for me, I am so grateful for being blessed with all the love and amazing support network around me (family, friends and even at work).

The most significant event for me in 2010 is that Grumpy and myself finally tied the knot! We had such a beautiful wedding shared with our closest family and friends. People made the effort to travel from abroad (and interstate) to celebrate with us on our wedding day. The day was perfect, I could not ask for more. We went for a honeymoon a few days after our wedding and had such a wonderful trip.

The other eventful moments of the year:

- I went camping! haha Who ever said I was high maintenance?

- My much loved car was damaged in the hail storm and written off. BOO!

- Went back to Malaysia for my grandfather's 90th. It was also some sort of a family reunion as it has been more than 10 years where all of us grandchildren were actually back in KL at the same time. Shortly after, my grandfather suffered a bad stroke that has taken away much of his memory and things has changed significantly since, but he is such a trooper and I admire him so much because of it.

- Worn a wig for the first time at my BFF's birthday party in Sydney.

- Went skiing with friends this year... after a long period of time, and I loved it!

- I saw Tiesto, Lady Gaga, U2 and Jay-Z. Each of them, a different genre, but all of them were absolutely brilliant.

- We did our first real DIY home renovation project! We changed the floors in our living room from carpet to floating timber, all by ourselves! I have not had a chance to blog about it yet, but I will at some point post some photos here.

- I was able to spend a bit more time with my parents. I realise that I normally only get to see them for about two weeks in the one year. But in 2010, I was able to see them for about 7-8 weeks, all split up in different trips, but it was good! I think that they really appreciate me being home more often and I am glad that I was able to be there with them.

- I went to Perth with Grumpy, and while I was there, I got offered a new job with a different company.

- I still cannot believe this was the year I resigned from a job after being so comfortable there for many years. Working with this company, I have grown so much as a person both professionally and personally. This was the company that brought me to Dublin to have the time of my life, and has also given me opportunity to be part of many significant projects. Lets not forget the company that sent me back to KL twice, staying in a 5 star hotel and eating all my favourite food back home on company expense. This was the company where I made so many friends, had the chance to discover new cultures, different languages... I will definitely miss it! And so they say.. life goes on...

2011 I hope to....

- Enjoy my new job. I know I will never have the same experiences or work environment as before, but I most certainly hope that things will work out and I will continue to learn new things and take up new challenges.

- Continue with our mini home renovation project. Next up, is the carpets. We need to change new carpets in all the bedrooms. And there are little things in the house that I keep wanting to do but have not had the chance to make it happen as yet. Laziness is a big part of it, but can I blame it on financial constraints as well?

- We will be going to Japan in a few months. Really looking forward to this.

- Eat healthy, continue to exercise, read more books, and I know this sounds weird, but I really don't mind keeping a low profile this year...

- Be kind, be considerate, be loving and caring, compassionate person to all my loved ones especially to my husband and my parents.

So there we go, lets welcome the New Year with as much hope, faith and love as before! I wish all of you great happiness, good health and much love, laughter and joy!