Melbourne 3rd Revisit: St. Kilda

St. Kilda is considered as one of the most fashionable suburbs in Melbourne. To us, it is like Bangsar in KL, but of course it is more attractive and happening than Bangsar as it is a suburb near the beaches...

It is a good place to live in... a wonderful place for drinks and dining and during the summer, it transforms into a popular place for outdoor beach activities!



For people who are into wildlife, you can try your luck in St Kilda too. as St. Kilda harbour/ pier is also a preserved environment for penguins...


For people who are into photography, St. Kilda is also a place that you can consider for photo shooting during your visit to Melbourne.


Due to it's fantastic scenery, St. Kilda has also become one of our favourite places in Melbourne.


A visit to St. Kilda will never be complete without tasting of a cup of coffee/ hot chocolate and a piece of cake in Acland Street. So we also enjoyed our wonderful afternoon in Acland street :)

Note: Acland Street is one of Melbourne's Food Precincts. It is also a long-time favourite of Melbournians and tourists alike because of its famous cakes shops. It is now the number one stop for backpackers because of the busy cafes and close proximity to St Kilda's beaches.


Here's how to get to St. Kilda from Melbourne city.
1. Take tram No.16, No.86 or No.96 from Swanston Street or Bourke Street.
2. Drop off at 'Esplanade Hotel' or 'Luna Park'
3. Walk to St. Kilda Pier (5 mins)
4. Here is the google map showing the direction from Melbourne city to St. Kilda Pier.

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5. Here's the google map showing the direction from St. Kilda Pier to Acland Street.


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Fun Taiwan Chapter 6 - Dining @ Mr. J Italian and French Kitchen

During our visit to Taipei, despite the back injury incident (you can see that I could not stand properly in some of the photo pages below), we managed to dine at Mr. J Italian and French Kitchen (Mr. J 義法廚房) near Taipei 101/ Sun Yat Sen Memorial.

Opened by pop star Jay Chou, Mr. J Italian and French Kitchen is a modernly minimalist bistro with classical touches added by the large oil paintings adorning the walls. These paintings are mostly portraits of him and his pals...


The menu was composed by him obviously - as they are names of Jay Chou's song titles. The staffs there were very friendly, and they told us that Jay visits the restaurant quite often (once or twice a week). We didn't get a chance to see him there, though.

*We ordered 'Pasta Salmon in cream sauce' (see the above photo page), it is indeed Jay's favourite according to the staffs ;-)

The foods we ordered were generally quite good! And the prices were very reasonable too!

They do sell merchandise and souvenirs so you can get some souvenirs if you are a fan of Jay Chou.

If you are visiting Taipei and are interested in giving the restaurant a try, here is the address:
No. 43, Lane 308, Guangfu S. Rd., Taipei City


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Fun Taiwan Chapter 5 - Taipei 台北101

Taipei 101 (台北101) is one of the tallest building in the world; the tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening. Due to it's popularity, we also visited the tower's observatory while we were there in Taipei.


Taipei 101 features an Indoor Observatory on the 89th floor and an Outdoor Observatory on the 91st floor. Both observatories provide tourists a 360-degree breathtaking views of Taipei city.


We only managed to enter the indoor observatory deck. The admission for the indoor observatory was NT$350 per person. A separate ticket of NT$100 is required for visiting the outdoor observation deck, which is touted as the world's highest outdoor deck.


The steel yellowish pendulum (I call it big ball) in the photos above serves as a tuned mass damper, the ball sways to offset movements in the building caused by strong wind (if you know that Taiwan is prone to high winds from typhoons as well as earthquakes). It is the largest damper sphere in the world, and it is also the one and only damper sphere which is visible to visitors (tall buildings like KLCC usually have a damper sphere installed to offset movements in the building). Therefore, the Taiwanese are very proud of it :)


Here's how to get to Taipei 101 Observatory by MRT:
1) Get off at City Hall Station (Blue Line).
2) You can either catch a Taxi to take to there which will usually costs less than NT$100 or you can walk from the MRT station to Taipei 101 following the google map attached. It is just 10-15 mins walk from the station.


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Here is the MRT map for your reference:


Click on the map to view the full size image.

Melbourne 3rd Revisit: St. Patrick's Cathedral

On the 1st day we arrived Melbourne, we visited one of the oldest church in the city - St. Patrick's Cathedral. It's Mother Church of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and one of the architectural glories of Melbourne. It is located in the CBD of Melbourne and is just 10 mins walk from the Parliament house of Melbourne.





As Melbourne is also known as the garden city, so after we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, we also visited a garden close to the church - Fitzroy Garden. Here are some photos taken in Fitzroy Garden.

There is a very famous building in Fitzroy Garden - Cook's Cottage, a memorial to Captain James Cook.

But we did not go in as we have been there before, plus you need to pay AUD3 per entry. So we just shot some photos right next to it :-\


Traveling in Melbourne City is easy as the government of Melbourne provides very good and most importantly FREE shuttle city circle service (bus and tram).

How to get there:
1. Hop on to a free city circle tram (http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/route/view/1112) and stop at the Parliament House at Spring Street.

2. Walk from Parliament House to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Please follow the map below:


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3. If you are interested in visiting Fitzroy Garden (http://www.fitzroygardens.com/), please follow the map below:


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Here is a map of Melbourne CBD for sharing. It highlights free city circle tram and bus routes.

Get well soon popo

It has been 5 days since the operation. The operation was successful but popo refuses to wake up (she is still unconscious). Wake up and get well popo, you are a great fighter, and we are so proud of you. God, may you bless our popo :(



Updated 16th Nov, 2010.
Popo is leaving us... and she leaves with a smile on her face. She is going to heaven, a place that is full of happiness and blessing. Thank you for everything you have done to us, epspecially for looking after me and bringing me up when I was little. We love you, we miss you popo and we will pray for you. RIP popo :'(

Me!bourne: Preview

Finally our long-waited re-visit trip to one of our favorite cities is just around the corner! We will be seeing you soon lovely!!

Yesh! Where else? It's Melbourne (again)!! But who cares! Melbourne is simply the place to be!

Note: This is an old pic taken in Dec'2007 to show you how excited we are about our re-visit to Melbourne! :D

Free photo session from Lancome Teint Miracle Foundation ROadshow

My sis Brenda visited us during the weekend, and her usual activity in KL, she was here shopping. There was a roadshow on Lancome Teint Miracle Foundation in Mid Valley Megamall.

And my sis bought some products from Lancome.

Because of the damage, she was given free photography sessions. So she invited my youngest sis and MM along for the photo session.

Yes, the makeup + hairdo + photo session was free. So the ladies spent 1 hour+ for the session... And here is the outcome of the session (see picture below)

MM got her A4 size portrait printed. Look, isn't she gorgeous? :D

Here's what the ladies said - how nice it would be if they had a dinner/ prom that night... Cos they received free hairdo & makeup session which normally cost at least RM60.00... They are just typical women...

Fun Taiwan Chapter 4 - Jiufen (九份)

Jiufen (九份), historically spelled Chiufen and alternately spelled Jioufen, is a small town in north Taiwan.


Jiu Fen is on Gee Lung mountain, and it is located near to a town called Rui Fang. Until the 1950's, Jiufen was a prosperous gold mining town. In brief, it is similar to Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. But the main difference between Malaysia's Cameron Highlands and Jiu Fen is Jiu Fen is a small town fulled of historical and ambient atmosphere.

The town went into sharp decline when mining was discontinued. The quaint streets, tea houses and stunning views of the Pacific Ocean saved it from becoming yet another anonymous mining ghost town. .

Jiufen is now a popular tourist destination for Taipeites eager to relive scenes from the past. It has provided the setting for several period movies.

You can get loads of Taiwanese street foods from Jiu Fen Old Street (九份老街). For example, baked milk sticks, stinky tofu, barbecued wild boar meat and barbecued Taiwanese sausages, Pineapple cookies, sour plum soup etc. One of the must-eat food in Jiu Fen is no other but the Yam Ball Soup (芋丸汤／冰). It can be served with or without ice! See the picture above! Isn't it tempting!! For souvinir, personally I think it is their 'mountain tea' (高山茶). Malaysia's Cameron Highlands is famous for it's Boh tea, and so Jiufen is also famous for their 'mountain tea'.

FYI, there is a shop called 阿信的店 (Xin's Shop - which also means YS's shop) :-D

You might wonder how did we go to Jiu Fen as my back was injured? Well, we got a free day-tour when we made hotel reservation few months back. Initially we planned to go there on our own so I did some research on how to get there from Taipei city, however the research information turned out to be useless to us :-( Sigh.

Perhaps it is good for me to share with you on How to get there from Taipei city:
From Taipei, take the train north to Ruifang Station. It takes about 45 mins. Then from Ruifang take the Keelung Transit bus from the bus stops in front of the train station to Jiufen. Be sure to line up across the road to go to Jiufen and Jinguashi. The bus trip is roughly 15 minutes. The bus will stop in front of a 7-11 (see picture 3 and last picture). Then you walk into the alley next to 7-11. This is where the old street of Jiu Fen is located at. The alley isn't long but you can easily spend more than 2 hours walking around, as there are loads nice foods/ snacks to eat and things to shop.

If you have time, you can plan for a night's stay at Jiu Fen home stay (民宿); you can also visit the Gold Museum there too!

If you plan to drive to Jiu Fen, the following is a map showing you how to get there from Taipei train station by car.

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Taipei MRT Map:


Click on the map to view the full size image.