Melbourne Day 1

Yes, the long awaited entry.


01: 6.30am (Melbourne time) at the airport, waiting for the rest of the tour group to clear customs.


02: Something familiar.


003: My favourite food! I had Subway there, just one evening, at the outlet near my hotel. However, the guy who was serving us had a poor attitude. Maybe he wanted to go home and relax on his couch, but that didn't meant he could wrap my sandwich badly.


04: First stop on our city tour of Melbourne - St. Patrick's church. It was closed cos that day was the Queen's Birthday, which was a holiday. Too bad, I'd have liked to go in and see the interior. Heard there's pretty stained glass.


05: Closer look at the front of the church.


06: Another view of the church.

Okay, so we just took lots of pictures, breathed in the cold air, and then bundled up the bus to our next destination.


07: Fitzroy Garden. I was wondering why there were descriptions in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Not that I saw a lot of Chinese, Korean and Japanese people around Melbourne.


08: I wouldn't mind going to this park every morning for a stroll.


09: James Cook's cottage in the background.


10: And then I saw this. !!!


11: I can't resist. MUST take picture with pretty tree.


12: Leaves changing colour.


13: Another view of James Cook's cottage. Wasn't open as well.


14: My sharp eyes spotted these banners! I wish the musical would come to Singapore. )= I am a Great Fan

Didn't get down the bus after Fitzroy Garden. Was so tired, cos I didn't sleep much on the plane. I tried to sleep at 12, but it was too cramped, and I had interrupted sleep, so I got up at 2am, which also happened to be breakfast time. Hence, I just couldn't stay up anymore.


15: Passed by the Yarra River. Yes, it was rainy. It was raining on another night when I went to the Crown Casino, so I didn't get a chance to walk along it this time.


16: I thought this was a pretty strange ad. I asked a friend who lives in Melbourne about it, and I was told this was an advert for the late night trams or something. Cos after a certain hour, all trams stop running, and if you're stranded in the outskirts, there's no way you're gonna get home, cos the cabs don't travel that far out.


17: Saw this sign when walking back from the restaurant we ate at (Shark's Fin Inn - and no, we didn't eat any shark's fin. I guess it's just the name of the place). And to think that we complain parking in Singapore is expensive!

One other thing about parking in Melbourne is this: There are plenty of signs telling you that you can't park at a certain spot. However, every sign tells you that under certain exceptions, you may park there. For example, the sign will say, "No parking from 10am to 7pm | Buses parking for less than 2 hours excepted". My friend said that it makes parking in the city area very hard, cos you never know when you can park, and when you can get a ticket.

To be continued...

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Someone was asking me how to pronounce a certain word, and when I was told how the majority pronounced it, I thought, It really makes no difference. Then I thought of the song, "You say to-mah-to, I say to-meh-to..." So I went to trawl Youtube and found this:



I kinda like old American movies. I started liking them after taking a film module back in NUS. Ahh, the good old days...

funny things

Today I went to see a polyclinic doctor, despite my morbid fear of people in white coats. Actually, I'm not that worried about them; I just don't like to take time to go somewhere and get asked weird questions that I don't really have the answers to, like, "What is the matter? How long have you been feeling this way? You sure?"

So anyway, the reason I was at the doctor's is because I acquired a bruise that would not go away. The bruise is named Kang Ryung Bo, after the guy who kindly gave it to me. It looked somewhat like this:



The bruise is officially nine days old as of today, and it is still lurking around and hurting, so I thought I'd better go visit the good ole people in white coats. My mother was pretty smart, she said, "They close at 4.30pm. You go at 3pm. They'll rush everything, cos they want you out by 4.30pm." And I was right! Queues were amazingly short. Or maybe it's just my really good luck.

So anyway, the doctor was this Chinese guy with a thick Hong Kong accent. I complained about the bruise, and then he decided to send me for an X-ray. Now, you know how pregnant women aren't supposed to go for X-rays cos of the radiation and what not, so when the screen on his computer popped up asking whether the patient (i.e. me) was pregnant, he asked me politely when was the last time I menstruated. After I told him, he actually looked a little stunned, and he contemplated for a while before asking the Most Ridiculous Question in the Universe: "Are you very sure you are not pregnant??"

All together now, what the...?!

Do I even look PREGNANT?! Maybe he mistook my healthy glow to be an expectant mother's glow. But still. This is ridiculous. I told him, "Yes, I'm pretty sure." I could hear my mother's sharp intake of breath. And then the worst thing happened.

I got an attack of the giggles. I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of the question. I covered my mouth to hide my laughter, and thought of sad things and unrelated things to make me stop laughing. BUT I COULDN'T! I kept thinking, How can the doctor think I'm pregnant just because my period was three weeks ago? It's only three weeks! Are pregnancy test kits able to detect at three weeks?! Plus I am single!

So I kept giggling and trying to hide my laughter. The moment I stepped out of the room, I started laughing like a maniac. The patients at the polyclinic must have thought I'd gone mad. Who comes out of a consultation room laughing like an idiot?! I laughed all the way to the X-ray room, and I laughed so much, tears came out of my eyes.

"Are you very sure you're not pregnant??"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

Okay I know my Melbourne trip pictures are due. Next entry, promise!