Farewell 2011

2011, what a year!

Have I become a better person over this year? Hmmm.. I don't know. But I'm pretty sure I've gained heaps from all the things that I've been through. Regardless of the nature of all the outcomes, I believe everything happens for a reason and there's always something good masquerading at the side.

2011, it's a very challenging year. Stresses were clouding most of my time and occasionally causing some unnecessary emotional outburst. I sincerely apologize to all my beloved friends and family whom I may have victimized.

Another year has gone, have I grown more mature? Hmmm... You be the judge. There were so many things happened this year. Highs and lows, I could barely remember all the details. Good times and bad times, I wish only good memories would stay on.

2011, how shall I describe you? Puzzle in venture, that's it.

A Month in North Island

Back in Christchurch after spending a month in North Island. It was supposed to be a formal attachment for the curriculum but i felt like i was on vacation most of the time. Maybe that's why i didn' realize time had passed me through so quickly.

GP attachment in Cambridge was enjoyable. All the staffs were very friendly and made me feel very comfortable working there. The town was lovely. Lots of small cafes along the main street with local business outlets. Perfect place for retirement if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of cities.

Almost every weekend Swarna and I would plan for short excursion to places around Hamilton, unless we were too worn out and wanting a sleep in. Road trips are always fun and I'm really glad that we've covered so many places.

Cambridge Medical Centre, a big practice in this small town. It has its own lab and radiology.

Sushi in Cambridge. It was freaking cheap, the whole set cost less than $10. Yummy...

Home of L&P, Paeroa. We purposely bought a bottle and posed in front of this landmark.


My socialite host for the past one month. Always busy talking on the phone or messaging people. And she is a closeted alcoholic, haha!





Hot water beach. Like its name suggested, if you go there at the right time and find the right spot, you could dig a hole at the beach and hot water would gush out from beneath. Not exactly understand how it works, but it did happened when we were there. We spent almost 4 hours dipping our body inside this natural hot spa. Great fun!


Thank you so much for your warmest hospitality, Swarna.

Without You

Special dedication to somebody in my life whom i can't live without

Brief Update

Just realized that i only have one post for the whole November. Time to put another one up before December sets in.

Currently I'm up in north island doing general practice attachment at this small town called Cambridge (not sure if it's related to the one in UK). Anyway, it's a nice place between Hamilton and Rotorua. Been there once while i was on my way to Rotorua few weeks ago.

Can't wait for the christmas holiday! Counting down...

Auckland & Rotorua Trip

I had been planning for this trip few months ago before the final exam. Didn't really do a thorough and extensive research but i knew exactly what i wanted to do. Gladly everything went alright.

Spent 3 days 2 nights in Auckland and another 3 days 2 nights in Rotorua. Nothing much i could tell about Auckland since i had been there for numerous times. But Rotorua, gosh, it's the place you must visit. It's a quiet, self sufficient town with lots of pretty attractions like spa, thermal pools, zorbing, maori settlement and etc.

First stop was One Tree Hill. Thanks to Swarna who picked Jane and I up in the airport and spent half of the day with us.

Later, we went to Mission Bay. I still remembered the last time I was there when Caryn was here for elective. Flashing back good memories.... Oh, i just realized the island at the back was Rangitoto Island. Learn something new everyday, haha!

This is a snap shot of Polynesian Spa, Rotorua. It's a really nice place. We spent almost 4 hours dipping ourselves in those hot pools. However the admission was quite pricey. We paid $43 for the lake spa instead of $21 for the normal adult spa. Nonetheless, it's worth the price. Highly recommended if you want to have a relaxing time and smoothen up your skin.

Breath-taking scenary while having a nice time. Considering to bring my family here if they are visiting nz next year.

Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, the main attarction of Rotorua. It's a vast reserve park of hot pools and geysers. Lots of nice scenary apart from the smelly sulfur vapour and smoldering weather. Admission fee: $32

Lady Knox Geyser, that explodes everyday at 10.15am. Luckily I collaborated this trip with Swarna so we managed to witness the 'explosion' on time.

The highlight of my trip, ZORBING.... I was in the ball by the way, haha! We got cheap deals from GrabOne, only paid $22 for each zorb.

All of us including Swarna's cousins and niece waiting in the jeep before they brought us uphill. Super excited!

Finished my solo zorb on the zig-zag track. It was so fun! That was a Zydro, which mean before i squeezed myself into the 'ball', they put in a few buckets of warm water inside and let me rolled with the water. They described this as a combination of roller coaster and washing machine. Pretty dizzy at first when i stepped out but it was tolerable. FUN! Super duper highly recommended! Random fact of the day: Zorbing was invented here in Rotorua!

What an awesome and exciting post exam vacation!

Second Chance

One more chance to make things right

Oddstuff

Screen caption from the internet. Anything odd you notice under the section 'oddstuff'?

Wishlist

I want a pair of wing

that soar me to the sky,

I want a pool of Pensieve

that store away my sorrow,

I want a forceful embrace

that tell me everything is gonna be alright,

I want an enlightened muse

that guide me through the hazy time.

Ask of million wishes

to show that I am not complacent,

Elders told me not to be greedy

but the rat race leave nothing behind for me,

Here I am, standing strong yet with dilemma

with a sheet of wishlist

trying to have a glimpse of reality

Looking Forward

Having something to look forward to amidst stressful exams.

Epiphany

An epiphany about people, especially people in my life.

There are lots of passerby, brushed our shoulder and said farewell. A momentary friendship that worth keeping at the back of my mind and perhaps retrieve them for reminiscence once in awhile in the future. 'How do you do, mate?' probably would be a good opening line if we haven't seen each other for quite some time. 'Not too bad, i have been doing such and such... i tell you it was great...' (pretending everything in the world is perfect and divert the conversation to something light if it gets too awkward). How true is that?

Then there are people that i am or used to holding grudges against. People that despise, betray or lie to me. My life would not be so interesting without this type of people. Thank you for your existence and please stay away. What comes around goes back around, do watch out, my friend.

Finally there are people that i treasure and love. People that i can rely on and walk me out of misery. People that give me strength and carry on with life when everything seems so cloudy and dark. I don't know how to repay such kindness but i'll be there whenever you call. A shout-out to a dear friend of mine, without you my life would be an utter mess. Thanks for picking up the pieces for me.

Orana Wildlife Park

In another word, it is a free range zoo, which means all the animals do not live inside a cage. Instead they are given a reasonable amount of compound to walk around while the visitors can see them from a distance seperated by electrical fence. Animals include zebra, lion, tiger, rhino, monkey, kiwi bird, giraffe, lemur, otter and the list goes on and on.

Since we are having a week of holiday, Jane and I decided to visit the park which is approximately 30 mins away from city centre. We spent almost 6 hours plus inside the park visiting all the animals. It was tiring but totally worthwhile.

Rhinos in the Africa Plain



Jumping on a trampoline while all the small kids were away. Such fun!




Hand feeding the giraffe with some branches. Apparently they have really long and yellowish tongue. I wanted to touch the neck but too bad it always move away, sigh...




Jane and the Lion Encounter Poster. We paid extra $30 to enter the cage while the zoo keepers fed the lions. Only 20 people allowed inside the cage per day. Guess what, we were the first and only customer who went for it. Well, you gotta be at least 1.4m tall to enter and most of the visitors i saw that day were small children. Lucky!



Inside the truck. Gosh,it was really scary. The lions were surrouding the truck because they wanted food, some of them even climbed up to the roof of the cage. The scariest thing was when they were roaring and fought among themselves. An awesome experience!



Jane and her favourite animal, cheetah. It is the fastest animal on earth and surprisingly pretty harmless when they are not hunting or mating.

It was a nice day out! Highly recommended if you are visiting Christchurch.

Family Trip

Finally i get the chance to blog about my family trip which happened almost 4 months ago. It's been such a long time since i had so much fun with my family. In fact, i would consider this was my first overseas vacation with them. My parents had been to so many places across the globe but never brought us along, argh... Haha, not throwing my tantrum anymore because i truly enjoyed this trip. Miss you all!

Poor erjie and francis who missed out... we did think and talk about you two lots of time throughout the whole trip because we really missed you, haha! Now just to show off some of the highlights of this trip.

Minus 5 Bar in Queenstown. A small bar completely made of ice and served cocktail in an icy glass. Only allowed in the room for 30 minutes. Couples of sculptures scattered all over. Overall experience, freaking cold.

The most luxurious accommodation i ever had. It's a villa at the top of a hill overlooking the whole Queenstown. Would definitely not stay there if there wasn't discount from GrabOne.

Kawarau Bridge, the first bungy jump was invented here. Yeah, one thing ticked off from my bucket list, i jumped! Very expensive and very scary. My advice: think twice before you pay and don't think anything when you are standing at the platform.

Dajie and a big teddy bear at Toy Muzeum, Wanaka. Rows of toy display ranging from ancient time to modern time. More like a warehouse than a conventional muzeum. Not entirely gutted but didn't find it too fascinating. Probably because i didn't own too many toys when i was young, sob sob... childhood deprived...



My parents and san gu at the top of Franz Josef glacier. Instead of spending 8 hours hiking the glacier like we young people did, they decided to take the helicopter and flew up in less than half an hour. Of course there was a price to pay, huge monetary price to pay, haha! Not complaining since it came out from their pocket.


My dad trying to lift up a tilted clock tower at Puzzling World, Wanaka. It was a very interesting place that create visual illusion. The best part was a room that looked normal but made you feel dizzy and walk sideway as you walk across. Highly recommended. Bring along a scientist to explain the phenomenon would be awesome.


My mum trying to 'flirt' with cruise captain in Milford Sound, haha! It took us almost 5 hours to drive to Milford Sound from Queenstown, and another 5 hours to return on the same day. Breath-taking scenary but extremely tired after such a long journey.


Me and san gu at Mirror Lake, somewhere near Milford Sound. Don't get fooled by the name of the lake, it doesn't reflect your image when you look down, it only reflects the scenary above the surface.

My family at Skyline, Queenstown. We had over rated buffet, watched a haka performance by Maori people and took lots of picture since the scenary was so pretty.



Random shot at Akaroa. It was ANZAC day when we were there, so most of the shops were closed. Not to mention the weather that day was horrible. Cold and wet, worst combination. We went for a cruise and saw some rare dolphins that can only be found here.




Me and dajie having fried rice at Franz Josef. Fried rice that bought from Wanaka the night before. Probably the best fried rice we ever had because we were extremely hungry when we were taking the break. Imagine 8 hours of hiking on ice, probably shed off some kilos as i climbed, haha! Highly recommended and do it while the glacier is still here, remember global warming is taking over.

Memorable vacation. Shall do it again!

Another Snow Day

What's the best thing to do when there is snow? Of course it's to stay home and stay warm. Christchurch was hit by another polar blast yesterday bringing snow to this ruined city. Though it isn't as heavy as the previous one, i still get the opportunity to make another snow man at my front yard. Such fun!

Mid Winter Santa Claus

A mystery parcel was sent to my doorstep few weeks ago when i was chatting with the sender at night. It was a pleasant surprise! She sent me 2 packs of dark chocolate tim tam and 2 hand warmers. Thank you so much, Swarna! Really appreciate that!

Suddenly it reminded me of one chinese idiom, ‘千里送鹅毛，礼轻情意重’

Let It Snow

It's such rare opportunity to see snow in Christchurch. And it's beautiful.

The snow started falling yesterday late afternoon, but it melted once it touched the ground. It got heavier towards the dawn and accumulated almost a few inches thick on the ground over the night.

This morning i was supposed to attend a clinic in the hospital. But the snow blast was really terrifying. So i decided to stay back, so as my working flatmates. Holiday for all!

We snowballed, we built snowman, we took lots of pictures, what a great Monday!

Built my first snow man

Mid July, Mid Winter

Winter in Christchurch is always uneventful. There is no snow yet the weather is chilling. The most we could get here is early morning frost which often make my sinus ache for awhile. But the good thing is sun will still rise and shine brighthly for most of the days. Wish i could dip myself in a hotpool now and enjoy the sun outdoor.

It's July, stress is definitely creeping up and hopefully i won't freak out anytime soon.

Visitor from Belfast, Lixian, who got me an Ireland keychain (hinting someone who used to live in Belfast...haha)

FaceTime

A new technolgy that bring me closer to my family. Totally enjoyed our past few conversations. *just trying to justify my purpose of buying this phone, haha*

Rattling and Trembling

Few days ago, a big aftershock graded 5.4 hit the city again. It was so bad that my house actually had electricity cut for a short while. I know i have been blessed, living at the lucky side of the city where liquefaction and disruption were minimal. But this time was different. Apparently there was a new fault line which i hope nothing worse will ever happen.

Just to let you all know that i'm fine over here. Life still goes on.

Yesterday night i watched 'A Walk To Remember' with my flatmates. It's such an old show but believe it or not, that was my first time watching it. I believe the show had touched lots of people's heart and that's why it was so famous.

Discovered this soundtrack, really nice.

Tap Tap

I have been so addicted to Tap Tap Revenge lately. Guess it reminded me so much of O2 Jam which i used to play endlessly during early college time. If i'm not mistaken, i downloaded a few gigs worth of songs in my playlist. Felt like some kind of aspiring musician when i played the game. Awh... miss playing piano and flute...

Anyway, Tap Tap is awesome. The first tap tap sonng given to me was Gaga's Alejandro. Like to play with pop songs. Such fun!

Holiday Mood Again

Gosh, i shouldn't have such feeling when exam is still on its way. Anyway, Swarna is visiting Christhchurch this weekend. Super excited.... It's been such a long time since we last seen each other. So not going to study for the long weekend. That's not the end. Term break is coming soon. Not that i have any plan, but it's nice not to wake up early in the morning and report myself at the hospital. Besides, cycling in a frosty miserable morning ain't a good experience since winter is around the corner.

Looking forward to the weekend!

When Everything Is Going Well...

When everything in life is going well for you, there must be something pop out in the middle of nowhere and annoys you. Have you experience that before?

Yesterday was a bright fine day and totally lightened my mood since morning. It would be such a waste not to spend some quality time under the sun, so i happily rode on my bike and loitered around. Reached another suburb, borrowed one story book, did some window shopping (not really, bought 2 pairs of socks from kids department, haha). When everything went perfectly fine, my bike tyre went flat. Thanks to some delirious drunken good-for-nothing people who threw away their bottles by the roadside. ANNOYING!!!

Then this morning, i found my phone was out of battery. One thing i couldn't fathom was that i just recharged it the night before. Occasionally this phone would ask me to reinsert the sim card or automatically change to flight mode. Tell me why. Francis Koh, you'd better give me a good explanation!!!

When everything is going so well, argh....

Happy Mother's Day

母亲节快乐！

This pendant from Michael Hill is our present to the loveliest mother on earth. Yes, that's you, haha! I still remembered vividly that last week when we were in Queenstown, you dragged me and dajie across the street to the jewelry shop and showed us this pendant. Luckily the price was reasonable and we bought it without second thought. Hope you'll love it.

Miss you very much!

Missing All of You...

Somewhere near Milford Sound

Just sent away my family to the airport. The sense of sorrow is really overwhelming. It's been such a long time since we had so much fun together. Can't believe the road trip has over and it's time to say goodbye. Miss you all so much!

Holiday Mood

Can't wait to see my family and travel together down south! It's gonna be fun.

Journal Review

Should I go for growth treatment? Technically speaking i'm still in puberty, haha!

New Toy

Slick!

My latest toy, radio clock! Have been looking for a descent radio clock for quite some time. Finally i met this beautiful creature. Love its modern metallic design with adjustable blue digital screen. What's so great about this clock is that it has projector on the side, which mean at night if i would like to check the time, all i have to do is just looking up to the ceiling. No more rolling over or straining the sleepy eyes. Isn't it brilliant?