The not so short summary of away time

Day 1
Rode down to Commonwealth with Aunt Mae on MRT.
Dropped bag at Commonwealth.
Went to SBGardens for lunch at Food for Thought (bacon! finally!!) and a walk around.
Poor old Little Hearts couldn't take it anymore and broke apart.
Walked half barefoot to Tanglin Mall; took ages to finally decide on my Graceful Rose.
Couldn't bear to part with Little Hearts yet, so brought along to Orchard.
Went into Wheelock for a peek, since Rose was a necessity and I still wanted to find a pair that was just calling my name. Nothing came up.
Bought some stuff at M&S and had Skinny Pizza.
Took cab from Commonwealth to Woodleigh.

Day 2
Boiled an egg using a cup for a savoury breakfast.
Went to Dhoby Ghaut.
The initial plan was just to get a bag belt at Daiso.
Plan failed, ended up having lunch and shopping for hours there.
Finally made my way to the Gardens.
Breathtaking man-made waterfall in Cloud Forest made Flower Dome a let down after it.
Dinner at MBS. Trouble was, I fell in love with a pair of Tiermotiv calling my name right before eating.
Ended up getting it after dinner and a shared scoop of dark chocolate ice cream.
Walked over to the Esplanade to watch and listen to some jazz going on. Lovely stuff.
Made own way back to Woodleigh by City Hall.

Day 3,4,5,6 belongs to Bali.



About half of those days were spent under food poisoning conditions.
But before that happened....








There was this door I pushed open that lead me to the organic garden in Tegal Sari.
To my utmost delight, the gardener there let me walked away from the hotel area, and waited below while I climbed up this outpost.

Then there was this snake obstructing my way back to our room.
I was waiting for it to gobble up the frogs and be on its way.
But it just raised its head and stayed that way.
I went back to the entrance I came in and informed the staff there.
When we went back to the place where I've seen the snake, it had disappeared.
The staff accompanied me half way to our room, and I thought it was the end of it.
Some minutes later there was a knock, and the staff was there to show the snake that's been caught.

I would have preferred it dead, but the staff was going to release it elsewhere as part of their custom/religion.












I don't know what it is about the people there.
Because they really didn't have to accompany me all the way out to the paddy fields or catch the snake after it had disappeared from view and informed us that it's been caught.
I was touched with that level of hospitality to their guest.

Day 7
Packed.
Had a little moment before sending Little Hearts into rubbish chute.
The only comforting thought was that Little Hearts 'went back' in the land Little Hearts have came from.
Went to Food for Thought at Queens Street, where the waitress gave me a random uplifting note.
Browsed the Catholic store opposite before going into the Catholic Church.
Left before 5.30pm mass started. Ended up in Paper Market at Raffles City.
Dinner at Sushi Tei in Raffles City before walking to the Esplanade again for some piano works.
Watched the MBS light and fountain display on the roof garden as well.

Day 8
The toilet business strikes again.
Took a cab to Changi instead of the MRT as planned.
Did GST refund on my Tiermotiv Dog pair.
Found Giotto for colleagues.
Had Texas Chicken in defiant to the stomach.
Head home.

I left both places feeling lighter than when I arrived.

(#258) A super duper big thank-you goes to.....

Two snoraumatic people.

Thanks for putting up with me.

Snores.

Klutziness.

Turtle pace.

Thanks for looking after me.

Having me stay over.

Meals.

Toilet business.

And all that in between.
I'm thankful I have you both.

(#259) For clean pathways when I had to walk half barefoot.

(#260) The showers of rain that was momentary and not like all out spoiling my holiday.

(#261) For Cub's MP3 player, songs that kept me occupied on the MRT and comfort me when I was in bed from food poisoning.
(#262) The moments of alone-ness, that I needed so badly to reflect and stuff.
(#263) Great food!

(#264)Acts of kindness.

Especially the random note that says 

'SMILE!  There are always flowers for those who want to see! '

Feb-aus

I realized I never look at the shots I took in February.
Even my yarns have been stored away without a further thought ever since.
Until now.

 

Melbourne Macro Shots: Tudor Village and Fairy Tree

More macro shots!
This Tudor Village is like awesomely small. It was all fenced up and we can't get in.
So my macro shots were all courtesy of my brother's Canon.
Took alot of zooming and alot of steadying my hand on the fence to get them right.

The Fairy Tree was standing behind the Tudor Village.
It was a good thing that it was fenced up because I just wanted to touch every single creature carved there!
I had a hard time deciding how to photograph some of them, in the end I only manage to isolate out a few.

Spooky eyes in the dark. (My favourite out of all Fairy Tree shots)

Melbourne Flower Shots

Here are my macro shots of flowers!

Botanical Garden and Mengkuang Dam

It's funny how I find myself waking up early to go to these places but waking up late to work (almost) everyday. Botanical Garden on Thursday and Mengkuang Dam on Saturday morning.

Here are some of my favourite shots.

There's a monitor lizard sun bathing on the tree.
It's amazing how it blend in so well to the tree trunk that I even thought at first that my eyes were seeing things because it was really way up high.
It looked like it was part of the tree!
Here's a close up. (Thanks, Bee for letting me steal these, my hp cam couldn't possibly capture these clearness)

The rest of these shots are mine.

I was afraid of the monkeys in Botanical Garden for once. So, no pictures of them. I don't know why I was afraid. There was this tribe of monkeys (including a mother with her baby) coming down from some trees and I pretty much rushed Bee who was calmly taking pictures of the monkeys to get up on the main paths. All I could think of was the speed they could advanced onto us and how they can strategically surround us and.......ATTACK!!! Do monkeys know attack strategies? Why can't these monkeys just be cute and cuddly or something?

Next, Mengkuang Dam.
There was a few photographers with tripod (and 3 of them came in an MPV loaded with sport bikes....which makes me wonder what sort of photographers are they) taking shots there.
Which I couldn't stand! And more or less motivated me to go back to the car and get out my hp.

I'm not sure why all my shots with the sun in it turns out all dark and gloomy.
But I just love the reflection I manage to capture of even the clouds with this shot.
Shooting tips, anyone?

The major spread of stones more or less surrounding the dam.
I took a couple of shots of different stone colors I saw and the different textures too.
How are rocks made, I wonder?

My focus for this shot was how magnificent the branches rise up.
Sometimes I think I must be mad, seeing the beauty in my surroundings.
Even plain perspectives like below excites me.

Yay, there goes my first scenery post!