Sydney Itinerary Day 4 - Nan Tien Temple, Wollongong Botanic Garden, and Wollongong Beach

Day 4 - Nan Tien Temple, Wollongong Botanic Garden, and Wollongong Beach

Train journey towards Wollongong :)

Weeks before flying to Australia, I contacted Yeshi or known more as Yessi Norfe (a young Bhutanese lady who currently resided in Wollongong with her two and half years old beautiful daughter called Daisy Choetsho Droma - whom she called 'Bumchu', who was also a blogger who blogged since year 2011. Find her blog here - Hear My Voice/ Mommy Blog. Obviously I knew her through the blogsphere, most probably since year 2013, when I started knowing few active Bhutanese bloggers around.

Feel like a student again :P

When I visited Australia two years ago, I did no have chance to visit Sydney. So this time, when I had more time to spend in Sydney, I planned a whole day to be spent with her and Bumchu :) So, through Instagram message and We Chat, we chatted and planned our trip together. I took train early in the morning from where I stayed to North Wollongong for about 1.5 hours. From there, I had to go to the opposite platform (platform 1), walked few steps and got into the UOW (University of Wollongong) bus provided for students freely. Well, both hubby and I felt like a student taking that bus hahaha.... :P

Having breakfast while waiting for the bus :)

Once reached the University's bus stop, we waited for both of them for a while. Since we had just missed our next bus, we paid a visit to the nearest loo. We had to change twice before reaching the Nan Tien temple. While waiting for the other bus, we went to 7-eleven to get our caffeine dose, orange cupcakes for Bumchu, and banana cake for myself. Did not expect the banana cake tasted really good! The $1 regular coffee/cappuccino was our favorite too!!! :)

Fo Guang Shan Nan Tien Temple - Wollongong 

Reaching temple, we went inside and prayed. We prayed to Goddess of Mercy or Kwan Im Pu Sha, also known as Avalokitesvara. Upon entering the main shrine, there were students doing some breathing exercise as part of their tour around the temple. We again offered our prayers to the Buddha (there were 5 Buddha statues inside). In a while, we heard what the temple staff explained to those students about the temple and the Buddha statues in front of us, also about Buddhist teachings in general.

Gratitude Bell - Nan Tien Temple 

We went to see the Pagoda and walked up towards the Gratitude Bell. You could 'gong' the bell as feeling gratitude towards your parents. There, we sat down and had a small picnic :)

Playing with Bumchu :)

We saw the other parts of the temple before heading to the bus stop. We just missed our bus so the next one would take quite some time. While waiting, Bumchu was playing with us, acting as shopkeeper and we were all as the buyers. So cute....

Wollongong Botanical Garden - Australia

Yeshi invited us to her rented home for lunch. To reach there, we had to walk across the Wollongong Botanical Garden. Wow!!! Again, we were blessed with beautiful flowers and natures there :)

Delicious Bhutanese meal at Yeshi place :)

She prepared quite a lot of food for us, among them, many were cooked in Bhutanese style, such as; ema datshi, ezzay, dhall, kewa and nutella datshi. Only fried salmon was not. She prepared it all by herself since morning time. Wow!! She also prepared curd water for us to drink. Hmmm.. the food was all delicious la!! Hubby and I loved it very much la!!! Name same kadinche-la Yeshi!!! :)

When Mom gets busy :D

While both of us were busy washing dishes and cleaning up, Bumchu suddenly disappeared. The room became very quiet. And I searched for her. Guess what? She was sitting on the floor inside the shower room helping the Mermaid and three yellow duckie taking a bath. Hahaha... I could not stop laughing looked at the scene. How enjoyed she was with the thing she was doing!!! :D

Wollongong Beach - Australia

At 4 pm, all of us got ready for our trip to the beach. Wollongong was known for its beach with two lighthouses. I went here too seventeen years ago, but could only recall very little about the places. We took a bus there and reached towards evening.

Gift from Yeshi. Kadinche-la :)

We had a stroll along the beach from one side to another. But the wind had become stronger. Hubby and I walked towards the other light house while Yeshi and Bumchu got their way back and waited for us near to the bus stop. We met there after a while before heading back to the train station,

Time to go... will see you again one day...

We had to wait at the train station for about half an hour. While waiting, Bumchu and us were playing and laughing. Oh my!!! Bumchu's laughters!!! It was so contagious and so happy!!! We kept doing that until our train came and we had to leave. She was crying and sad as the train left. Poor Bumchu! I wished I could stay and play longer with you... Thank you very much Yeshi for all your time, effort, lunch, gift (book and post card), and everything you had done for us. It was not goodbye though but would see you again. We'd never know.. Just like how we both could meet up this time!!! :)

Shanghai noodle before going back :)

We reached our station back in another 1.5 hours. Had Shanghai pork soup noodles with pan fried bun before going back to our place and having a good rest. It'd been a long day but it was all memorable la!!! Had recorded Bumchu's laughter on my phone. Could play it anytime I want :D

Sydney Itinerary Day 3 - Paddy's Haymarket, Fish Market, and The Rock

Day 3 - Paddy's Markets, Fish Market, and The Rock

We started our day by having dim sum or yum cha at the newly renovated Zilver Restaurant located at 191 Hay Street (corner of Pitt street). If you would like to find it easily - find the red bricks building just nearby the Capitol Square. You could see the signage hanging with Zilver name on it and it was located inside at level 2. We asked around from friends where to go to have a nice dim sum and they recommended us this place.

Dim sum at Zilver Restaurant - Sydney, Australia

We ordered the usual siew mai, har kaw, chicken feet as starter, followed by century egg porridge (the portion was so small - not worth it), Shanghai jian bao (pan fried bun), chives spring roll, spring onion pancake, and prawn rice roll (cheong fan). Most of our order were under big categorize of pricing with two special ones. No medium and no small categorize. They did not put the price in the menu as well. We only found out about the price upon payment. The big size cost AUD$7.40 while the special cost AUD$8.40.

The restaurant was clean and looked new. However, with the price charged, I found it too expensive. The steamer in the cart was not turned on too in the beginning. Our starters were cold. Quite disappointed. We only loved the pan fried bun among the rest. But you could find the same thing in other restaurant with much cheaper price. (Fyi, there was one Shanghai small restaurant next to the Asian supermarket just opposite of the Wolli Creek train station that sold pan fried bun for only AUD$8.80 for 8 pcs!!! Their noodles and dumplings tasted great too!!). So, dim sum? Next time I would rather eat at another place.

Paddy's Haymarket - Sydney, Australia

After that, we walked around the Paddy's Haymarket. It opened daily from 10 am to 6 pm except on Monday and Tuesday. There were wet markets selling fruits and vegetables, also shops selling souvenirs and other stuffs. If you wanted to buy souvenir for friends and families back home, this was the place!!! There were many items sold much cheaper compared with Melbourne's Victoria market, for things such as: pencil case, coin purse, tea towels, wine bags, sunglasses, etc. It was also much cheaper compared with many other shops selling souvenirs outside. So, do not hesitate to buy there!!! :)

Fish Market - Sydney, Australia

At 12 pm we took the light rail from Paddy's Market to Fish Market. There were few shops selling fresh and cooked seafood in it. Wow!!! It's a paradise for seafood lover!!! You could find anything that you wanted. We walked around from one shop to another to check on the stuff, which one served better variety of seafood, which one served delicious cooked seafood, and so on. There were alfresco (open air) dining too outside but many seagulls would wait by your side waiting for food from you hehehe...

Fresh seafood for appetizer at Peter's - Fish market at Sydney, Australia

We decided to have the spiky urchins and a plate of cooked big prawns with fresh oysters as appetizers plus we bought a small bottle of Jacob's Creek Classic Chardonnay from the wine shop there to complete the taste in our mouth.

BBQ Grill - Fish Market Cafe at Sydney, Australia 

From there, we moved to the next door's shop called BBQ Grill - Fish Market Cafe. This place was recommended by my sister's friend to try their cooked seafood. We ordered Seafood Platter for two people consisting of grilled scallops, Oyster Mornay and Kilpatrick, BBQ baby octopus, calamari rings, king prawns, battered fish pieces, crab stick, and chips (cost AUD$38.50) plus half Rocklobster Morney with chips and salads (cost AUD$24.50). It turned out to be so much as they gave lots of chips at the bottom, which we could not finish. The lobster tasted great. But I would suggest for you to order other stuffs in a la carte as they did not mention how many piece of those stuffs given in the platter. Overall, we all satisfied with our seafood lunch!!! :)

Queen Victoria Building - Sydney, Australia

My sister left us after that sumptuous meal as she had to catch her flight back to Melbourne. Hubby and I went back to Paddy's Markets and continued our shopping. I had some time to spend before my appointment with my high school friend, so we walked from there all the way to Circular Quay and passed by the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) and many other shopping centers. I bought the Zumbarons again there hehe... simply couldn't resist!!! :P

Met my high school mate with her two kids

So, I spent some time with my high school friend and two of her three children at Circular Quay station's McDonald's who chose to settle down in Sydney over a decade ago. 'Til that, we had not met for twenty years! Wow! We were keeping in touch through Facebook though.

Dinner at Lowenbrau - The Rock

Right after that, I had another appointment with my friend's sister and her husband. I had German food this time round. Since I was still very full with the seafood meal that afternoon, I told them to share our meals. We ordered Chicken Schnitzel with Pork Trotters and two glasses of 500 ml lager beer for four of us. It turned out the portion was just nice. The food tasted delicious. With live music at the background, it made our dinner experience feeling great!!!

Four of us with Sydney Opera House at the background :)

And before we separated, we took another picture of Sydney Opera House with night light at the background. It was kinda special to commemorate the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Another great day we spent at Sydney city. Story goes on...

Sydney Itinerary Day 2 - Sydney Opera House, Royal Botanic Garden, and Harbour Bridge

Day 2 - Sydney Opera House, Royal Botanic Garden, and Harbour Bridge

Takeaway breakfast at Sydney Opera House with Metta

We started our day by meeting Metta at Circular Quay train station and headed to Sydney Opera House. We bought coffee and Cappuccino from the Opera Kitchen then sat down on the staircases to the Opera House, munching the chicken, meatball and pork roll Bahn Mi from Hong Ha, breakfast treat from Metta. Thank you Metta!! :) We went inside the building having a look things sold at the souvenir shop. There was a guided tour of the building available with fee but we didn't take it. Basically, Sydney Opera House was a multi venue performing art centre in Sydney with over 1,500 performances be held annualy. The shape of its building was the landmark of Sydney. In 2007 it had become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Source: Wikipedia.org)

Royal Botanic Garden - Sydney, Australia

We had a walk in the beautiful Royal Botanic Garden. It was located at the heart of Sydney city center. Oh man! If I were to stay in this city, I would love to go to this garden every week for a walk. The view was simply wonderful!!! With a change in season, the flowers bloomed were different too!!!

Royal Botanic Garden - Sydney, Australia

From here we could see the view of both Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. There were parts of the park that displayed tulips, cherry, and many other beautiful spring flowers!!! We all could not stop taking photos over there. It was a perfect place for everything from dating, running, exercising, suntanning, taking wedding photos, and so on. There were birds like seagull, Cockatoo, magpie, Myna, pigeon, white Ibis, Raven, and so on. Also ducks surrounding the little ponds. Hhmmm... loved the natures there so much!!!

Pancakes on the Rocks - Sydney, Australia

For me, there would be something missing if I did not have meal at the Pancake on the Rocks. I had it seventeen years ago and I would love to have it again on my visit this time.

Late lunch at Pancake on The Rocks - Sydney, Australia

The place brought memories from the past (although I could not really remember what hahaha...). It was simply nostalgic. Since time shown was 3 pm, we only ordered one savoury crepes (Seafood pancake) with chips (fries) and one sweet crepes (Blackforest pancake) for 3 of us. Both tasted really great!!! All of us were satisfied with our meals :)

Harbour Bridge and the surroundings :)

We had a walk under the bridge. If you were adventurous person and had lots of money in the pocket, you could actually try the Bridge Climb. The prices of the ticket would be different depending on the timing that you choose as different time would offer different view of the city. Check out the pricing here. Well if it's for one lifetime experience, then you should give it a go guys!!!

Central Business District (CBD) area - Sydney, Australia

We continued walking towards town area passing through the Central Business District (CBD) area, where all the big offices and shopping belts were located, the busiest part of the town for working people. It was after working hour timing, so you could see people wearing smart suits rushing back for home or continuing with their next appointment. However, on weekend, this place would be quieter.

Dinner at Naruone Korean Restaurant - CBD Sydney 

Just like us. We were meeting my sister's friends - Daniel and Novita. We were talking about the deep-fried chicken cooking in Korean style that was trendy back in Singapore (fitted perfectly with bottles of beer). Therefore, Novita introduced us to eat at Naruone. We ordered half original deep fried chicken and half chicken in spicy sauce, seafood spicy soup, and seafood pancake. Hhmm... the place was cosy and crowded. Many photo frames filled with Korean movie stars and singers were displayed on the brick wall. Overall, it was great dinner and my sister had great time chatting with both of them. That's all for our second day. The post continues on...

Sydney Itinerary Day 1 - Paddy's, Darling Harbour, Queen Victoria Building, and Bondi Beach

Finally, it's time for a good long break!!! Started it with a visit to Sydney, the busiest city in Australia. Very fast pace, multicultural, and offered so many beautiful places!! I went there with hubby. My sister came from Melbourne joining us for the first three days.

Both of us took midnight flight from Singapore by Singapore Airlines. Reached Sydney the next morning. We immediately put our luggage in a friend's place - Virny and Hadi had agreed to put up with our stay there for the whole week. Thank you both!!! After resting for a while, our journey  was finally begun.

Day 1: Paddy's (Chinatown area), Darling Harbour, Queen Victoria Building, and Bondi Beach

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Lunch at Chinatown area :)

It'd been seventeen years since my first visit to Sydney, back in 1999. I was still a college student.. Stayed there for 1.5 months during a school holiday, visiting many cities across Australia. This, would be my second time revisiting Sydney. Many things had changed although some remained the same. I could only recall a little bit memory from the past.

For first timer, Paddy's (Chinatown area) was definitely a place to go. We had our lunch (Cantonese food) there at one restaurant famous for its dumpling (however, it wasn't available when we ordered :P). Well, there were hundreds of restaurants available though. Chinese (Emperor's Garden, East Ocean), Indonesian (Podomoro), Thai (Chat Thai), Malaysian (Mamak), Japanese (Kura, Wagaya), Vietnamese (Pho Gia Hoi, Pasteur), and so on. If you could not decide what to eat, go up to Market City's building 3rd floor to find variety of food available at the food court.

Darling Harbour - Sydney, Australia

Once lunch done, we had a good walk towards the Darling Harbour. It was only five minutes walk from Chinatown area. It had changed a lot. Few big buildings were being built. There was Chinese Garden, Cockle Bay Wharf, shopping malls, rows of restaurants, hotels, cruises, museums, playgrounds, and so on. It was perfect place for dating, like what I had many years back ;P

Queen Victoria Building (QVB) - Sydney, Australia

From there, we walked again towards Town Hall train station passing by the Queen Victoria Building or QVB - built in a late nineteenth century, right in Sydney Central Business District (CBD) area. It was shopping malls with shops and restaurants inside built beautifully and classic. There my sis and I tried the delicious Zumbarons (at AUD$2.80 each), macaroons sold at pastry shops by Adriano Zumbo - one of the Australia's most celebrated patisseries. We had Salted Butter Popcorn and NY Passionfruit Cheesecake flavours. Hhhmmm.... nyummy!!! They were delicious and not too sweet!!! Perfectly melted inside my mouth... :)

Bondi Beach - Sydney, Australia

We moved on to Bondi Beach this time round. Taking train to Bondi Junction station and bus no. 380/381, stopped at the beach. It was cooling sunny day! We were lucky to have such a weather because just the week before, it was reported that it rained almost every day. I removed my shoes and socks, folded my pants, and walked over the sand. It was cold sands! Unlike the usual tropical summer hot sea sands that I stepped in. We were staying there for a while. Too bad sunset was located at the other side though.

Do Dee Noodle Bar - Tiffany Plaza at Bondi

At 5.30 pm we took the bus back and headed to Tiffany Plaza. We had dinner appointment with a friend that I'd never met for 20 years, and my sis-in-law's cousin with his wife and 6.5 months old baby girl. We ate at Do Dee Noodle Bar and tried their noodles. It was famous for its spicy noodles. There were 7 different levels of spiciness, Harpin already warned me that the spicy noodle level 1 was spicy enough for him. However, the "Do Dee Devil"'s name had intrigued me to try. (AUD$9.90 for the large size bowl). True enough. I found it very spicy until I had to ask for extra soup to make it less spicy :P Harpin himself ordered the Do Dee King noodle to be shared with his wife. It was put in giant bowl with so many fillings, costs AUD$23.90 per bowl. The Giant Pork Ball noodle (AUD$9.90 - Large) and Do Dee Pepper Pork noodle (AUD$11.50 - Large) were not spicy though, So if you can't eat spicy food, you still have many choices of food to choose. We had a great chat, updating each other, asking about their feeling staying over there, and so on. It was a pack and fulfilling day. Time to get home and have a good rest. Continue later...

Memoir for you...

August passed by. I had folded another phase of my life's journey. Still remembered the time when I had just started it up. I had to wake up early in the morning in order to catch the public and company bus to work. Then, the struggle I had during first few days, weeks and months of my new job. I had to keep my mind positive all the time. Still recalled the journey in adapting to the new environment and falling in love with it :)

Home sweet home for the past 8 months :)

Month end closing could be nightmare sometimes, especially in the first few months, where I was left by the previous staff. Luckily someone was there and many colleagues were there to accompany me through my bitter times. Imaginations would appear sometimes, like what came out here.

A drop of notes of one month's Anniversary of my working life and photo could be found here too. Morning quotes were found to be very useful, sent by dear colleague and mom through the period.

Chinese New Year Company's Dinner at Hua Ting - Orchard Hotel 19 Feb 2016

We did not know should we felt lucky or not to work in the beginning of the year. Not so lucky as the month end closing for period one fell during the Chinese New Year period. Therefore, we had to come back to work during the New Year day 2. Gone were my mood to celebrate the new year hahaha... Lucky was because we were having the company Chinese New Year celebration at Hua Ting Restaurant and each of us was given a bag of Chinese New Year's goodies bag.

Abalone Lohei treat by TF :)

Apart of that, our Boss also treated us Chinese New Year's lunch after the month-end closing had over to appreciate our hard work during the difficult time :)

Department lunch treat after month-end closing - 11 Mar 2016

A month after that, after another closing, we were again treated with delicious lunch, again, to motivate and lift our spirit, also appreciate our laborious effort to pick the skills up in a very short period of time.

Breakfast and lunch menu every day with my bestie at office :)

Our office was located at industrial area. We had to walk a distance to the nearby 'makan' or eating place for lunch (Northtech or Yi Bai Bu - one hundred steps coffee shops). We did not have variety of food choices over there. And sometimes the sun was too hot or the rain was too heavy, prevented us from going out. Morning time, I usually had a cup of coffee from the coffee machine and bread or occasionally heavier meals (like fried beehoon, porridge with you tiao, nasi lemak, mee rebus, etc.) for breakfast - takeaway before reaching office. We ordered takeaway lunch from colleagues who went out to eat sometimes, or brought lighter food like salad, fruits, corn for lunch. Breakfast and lunch time were the times where me and besties sharing our stories and laughter :)

Besties at office :)

Once every one or two months, we would also have staff's engagement meeting at the bigger room downstairs. It was where our HR  Manager conveying their messages to all of us, followed with staff monthly Birthday's celebration. We were treated with Birthday cake and snacks during such occasions.

Team lunch after period 4 month-end closing - Bai Mi Fen 19 May 2016

Somewhere in May, I told my Boss that I did not intend to continue my contract. I felt that it was necessary for them to hire the shared services staffs as soon as possible as that was their main intention before hiring me and colleague. So it was when they started to move ahead with their initial plan and after the meeting, we went for team lunch, again, after the month-end closing. In June, we had surprise Birthday party for KH. I expressed my gratitude for her presence in the office in this post.

After period 5 month-end closing - Paulaner Brauhaus 9 Jun 16

Soon after, they set up the new team from Malaysia and they came to Singapore for few weeks to get the training from us. The above was the dinner held to all of us after the period 5 month-end's closing. Such a great relaxing time after another tiring month-end closing!!!

A night at Chinatown with Sujitha

Sujitha, the one who replaced my post, came again for another month-end's closing. I brought her to Chinatown since she had never been there before on Friday after work. We both had Mala Hotpot for dinner and shopped around the area :)

Team dinner in Red Dot Brewhouse at Dempsey Road - 27 Jul 2016

The Malaysia and Indonesia teams came the month after for SAP training. Before it was almost ending, we had another team dinner in Red Dot Brewhouse in Dempsey Road. There, we tried their special Monster green lager beer that was made of green Spirulina. Not bad ah! ;)

Farewell lunch by our dear Boss's Boss at Bali Thai Causeway Point - 19 Aug 2016

Clock ticked away. My last day was getting nearer. Due to my boss's boss flying schedule, she held farewell lunch for me before leaving for the official duty abroad. I thanked her so much for everything that she had done for me throughout my working days there. She was there for me always, from the beginning of my course of work, during my difficult times, even sometimes sacrificed her personal and family times in order to assist me and my other colleagues during month-end closing. And yet, she still treated me this farewell lunch hehehe.... :D Thank you very much lah!!! :)

Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore team dinner at Brussels Sprouts 24 Aug 2016

One month after their July's training, Malaysia and Indonesia team were coming again for UAT (User Acceptance Test) of SAP system and days before their training was over, we were having the team dinner at Brussels Sprouts, my last gathering dinner with all of them. That night, we celebrated our Boss's birthday which fell the day after :)

Boss Birthday Celebration at the office - 25 Aug 2016

The next morning and evening, she was surprised with both celebrations again, at the office from both Singapore and Malaysia teams. It was also to thank her for her help all this while throughout the course of our works there. She was more like my 'da jie' or big sister rather than my Boss hahaha... :P

My last day at office - 26 Aug 2016

So, my last day was finally coming!!! My colleagues treated me with surprise farewell lunch in Bali Thai Restaurant at Causeway Point. I still remembered, it was so hazy and I was so lazy to go out to eat. KH tricked me saying we would take taxi to Northtech (and we had to take cab due to haze, although it was not so far from our office to reach). But once inside, another colleague told the driver to go to another destination. Hahaha... Then 3 other colleagues were also coming for the lunch. I was touched lah!!! Thank you everyone for your invitation and appreciation of me as your colleague there :)

And as what my last post about, the three bottles above were my remained legacy left for the three teams out there. And at the photo above (most below part), were the beautiful ladies I worked most during the month-end period. On Friday night and Saturday afternoon I had to contact and call them for problem solving mostly. Thank you everyone for your kind helps and assistance especially during month-end closing. Without your help, I would not be able to tie my inventory figures... :D

Team farewell dinner at Mellben Seafood - Ang Mo Kio - 1 Sep 2016

Almost a week after my last day, we met again for my farewell dinner. The FP&A and accounting team were mostly present there. Thank you for being there, for your time and sincere wishes for my future endeavor. I appreciated and thanked all your help, support, assistance, and friendship that you offered during my course of work. Although I was there for less than 8 months, it felt like we had known each other for years.

Tak Po Dim Sum breakfast at Chinatown with Millioneoil - 4 Sep 2016

And last but not least, Ms Millioneoil treated me farewell dim sum breakfast this morning before I leave for my holiday trip. Thank you Ms Millioneoil for everything!!! She was my Saturday accompany who also bought me lunch to ensure I was full and had enough energy to do my month-end closing well. Shall meet you again after I come back for 'lim jiu' session :D

Everyone, once again, thank you very much for everything!!! Also for my Boss who left me with a beautiful 'love letter', which hopefully could be of any use in my future endeavor. Now before I leave for my one-month holiday break, I present the memoir above, for all my dear ex-colleagues. Hope it could bring you back to where it begun and you all would always be inside my memory, part of my beautiful life's journey. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!!