long time no blog!
been busy with uni and...eating. everywhere.
oh! and i went to singapore/malaysia and back!
laziest lazy entry ever? possibly.

anyway, today i finally managed to go to the aroma festival after years of saying i'd go. 
major lols because i was supposed to go with uni peeps but because the hardworkers are too hardworking, i ended up going with mum
somehow managed not to bump into people i was supposed to bump into, but bumped into a TON of people i knew from high school and uni.  lol.

anyway, we got to the rocks around 1:30pm after walking over from the kent st parking lot

first thing we ate (for the day, no less) was the sabor portugese mousse in hazelnut. 
IT WAS AMAZING! it wasn't too rich, and i love hazelnut so it was like edible nutella xD (for someone who doesn't like chocolate that much, so i don't know what that actually means...)
i think it was $4.50? 

then we strolled over to the orient quarter and lined up for gozleme.
$10 for the chicken, spinach and cheese one. was really good, because we were both starving by then. 

then we lined up for ages for the wagyu burger at the fine cafe? i think the wait was about 20 minutes in all. it wasn't tooo bad, since there was some dude singing beautifully on his guitar about 3 metres away :P
i think this was 10 bucks as well.
it was okay.  once again, underwhelmed by wagyu beef and the bread wasn't as awesome as i thought it would be but, it the proportions were pretty good.
got the last squeeze from the mustard. FTW!

then walked back over to the continental quarter? i don't even know.
not a big fan of chocolate but somehow fresh strawberries make everything okay. 
got a strawberry cup from charlies chocolate fountain for $6. IT WAS GOOD.

and then lined up for dane's coffee (and bumped into some of mum's old friends)
coffee was all $2 a cup :P
we both got cappucinnos from the viking blend.
the first taste was bitter as, but the more we drank it, the better it got.
haven't had such an exhilarating high from a coffee since coffee alchemy. it was reallllly good.
(tab agreed lol)

then we went by the sea side and strolled for a bit and epically failed taking pictures of the opera house :P

lowenbrau preztel for $3
(around this time, we also ALMOST bought some expensive ginger beer - lemon honey ginger beer. it was the most intense ginger experience i'd ever had. but they didn't have any in the small bottle so we ended up passing.)

by this time, we were thinking about heading home.
but mum and i were so amazed by our previous coffee we wanted another hit before we left
so we lined up at cafe danieli for the cannoli ($4.50, chocolate and vanilla filled) and coffee ($2, again)
the coffee was standard affair, a little bit on the milky side but not too bad.
the cannoli was reallllly good. mostly due to the crusty shell. i liked the vanilla end more, tasted a bit cream-cheese-y. so good. lol, thinking about it, makes me want one again.

 

and then you'd think we would have had enough food

but no, we walked all the way back to holy basil for ox tongue and tom yung soup. 

all in all, all the walking balanced all the eating. 

sigh. 

bridesmaid diet, what, bridesmaid diet?

(since albus is sadly out of service, iphone photos it is!)

donna.

lolforever.
most random sunday.
had lunch with jan and mum at the baron. i will be going back.
because the food was good. especially the ricotta and honey banana bread. it was amazeballs!!!!
then we went back to my house and we jammed around.
we sucked so bad. well, i sucked. jan was pretty good.
guitar and ukelele and keyboard and singing, singing, singing.

 

donna.

lols.
once again, I LOVE MY FRIENDS.
they're awesome!
waaaaaaaaaaah~~ what did i do to deserve such awesome friends?

special thanks to my mum for being awesome, and janice and pickle for coming over ridic early to help me shop and prepare and then to cherry and jenny (and i guess, anoushka) for making water balloons with your dexterious fingers, and then hui and david for manning the bbq. and to everyone who travelled for over 20 mins, which is almost everyone. thank you <3

highlights

preparation

• waking up at 7:30am, and then waking up at 8:00am and then...9...fail. 
• writing my shopping list with 15 min before pickle and janice arrived
• going to towers and having fun times in the reject shop
• putting up the photobooth background, and pickle not being able to compensate for the angle
• running out of masking tape and having to use the blue blu-tac
• cherry arriving in her popcorn costume and janice and pickle's reaction...LOL! 
• anoushka arriving early...because she has to leave early. too popular~
• preparing water balloons and getting squirted in the face
• jenny and cherry making a pro asian assembly line for water balloons
• my mum slave driving cherry
• anoushka and i, failing at tying up water balloons
• and then...prep time kind of melded into partay time

party time

• everyone arrived at different times lol
• so i kind of gave up the original idea of having people play for the water guns, instead we just went straight into the waterfight around...4?

water fight highlights

• did it hunger game style - everyone (except adam and jesslau :P) donned their garbage bag ponchos. two buckets of water balloons in the middle of the yard. only half the people had water guns. HECTIC. 
• confusion about whether we'd started. 
• AND THEN CHAOS. 
• i don't know how it was for anyone else, but i felt like i was part of a guerilla team. but then again, a lot of people targeted me. I WONDER WHY O_O?
• one point where me and janice both got hold of the hose and wrestled with each other. she ended up stuffing it down my poncho. and then she got a bloody knee :/
• so we played until all the water balloons and everyone's water guns were down
• then it was refill time cos chris and david were still relatively dry. and then we tried to get adam to join us but fail. and then jenny started firing warm water and everyone was like EW.
• then wynnie and joyce came and everyone was about to fill up again. but then wynnie decided not to join us. at this point in time, janice started getting mischievious eyes, and i knew poo was about to go down. 
• can't remember what moment lead up to it, but i was at the mouth of the patio when suddenly someone grabbed my legs, kevin? and then someone else was grabbing my arms. NO! NO! NO!!!!!!!! so i slid out and sat on the floor and then janice was like, cool! even easier!. i held onto the fencing, while people lifted my legs and i was about horizontal. at this point i was still thinking i had a fighting chance where i could run back inside to hide, but then a moment of weakness! and suddenly i was at the pool entrance. i grabbed onto the fencing again. NOOOOOOOOOOO~~~ and this time, cherry and jenny peeled my fingers back one by one and i knew i was in for it. i remember very distinctly that they had to shift my weight, and swing me from side to side before...

• SPLASH!!!

• so humilating swimming in a garbage bag and almost failing. 
• was COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY SOAKED. LIKE A DROWNED RAT SOAKED. 
• then bel told me to give adam a hug, so i did. hehe.
• and then it was showertime because ew, the pool is so chlorinated. 

back to party time

• then it was food, food, food
• more people arriving, more people leaving
• present time. SO FORTUNATE. so happy. hehe.
• janice, pickle, bel, hui and jenny serenaded count on me with changed lyrics to me. SO TOUCHED. crying a river inside my heart. especially, hui's solo. lol lol. FDJAKLSFJKD;ASKA. 
• food, food, food, chat, chat, chat
• david and hui being slave driven by my mum
• then it was pictionary time, with random teams of people.

pictionary & charades

• funky teams - 1) cherry, mandy, sam, jesslee and ??? ; 2) janice, pickle, joe, anita, jesslau; 3) chris, dom, jenny, hui, david; 4) kevin, bel, adam, anna, wynnie, joyce 
• kevin's words - philosopy lol
• kevin's epic guessing
• david's drawing of psychologist -
• joyce's refusal to charade strawberry jam
• dom and janice - milo
• people having to inhibit their own words
• people thinking they have to inhibit their words, and then realising its not their word
• mandy's drawing of philosophy and everyone guessing in a completely different direction
• bel not wanting to wedgie herself, so getting me to volunteer instead
• lol, adam's leg
• joe's word that no one knows
• PEOPLE NOT KNOWING THE NUTBUSH DANCE IS CALLED THE NUTBUSH DANCE (and then me and cherry demonstrating...wrong)
• donna li. lolwhat?
• everyone high on sugar and sweets. 

back to party time

• AND THEN IT WAS CAKE TIME. what an awesome cake (thanks wynnie! in case i forget - it was choc mud with cherry hazelnut with brandy ganache)  
• and then it was FORREALS photobooth time, with more and more people leaving...and more and more ridiculous photos...too much same-sex sexual tension all over the couch...
• then my mum was singing really awesomely by herself in the living room
• then my mum tried to fit into the popcorn box and completely failed
• please refer to photobooth pictures on facebook because...ridiculous. 
• and then most people left...
• and then it was just me, cherry, janice, pickle, bel and adam jamming around on the guitar and keyboard. and then cherry had to leave. 
• and then it was to my room and i'm pretty sure this was the point where adam died. then bel and pickle drew me pictures on my chalkboard. and we all lounged around to regina spektor until it was like 1am. 
• and then i hugged everyone goodbye and fell asleep waiting for bel to get home. fail. 

most awesome friends ever <3

 

and lol.

 

donna.

and i'm done.
MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN THAT TOOK A LONG TIME.
If you've read up to the beijing entries, you'll find that i actually ended up putting the HK entries BEFORE the beijing entries so there's like...10 of those if you're bored.

anyway, the last day in guangzhou was spent shopping (1st January)
DON'T EVER SHOP ON PUBLIC HOLIDAYS.
See below:

 

YEAH. Those little neverending dots towards the back of the photo?

they're people!

i got so scared, i dragged mum home instead. 

so in the end, we didn't actually buy that much and we were quite a bit underweight. 

go us!

(or boo us!, depending on how you look at it)

 

eating sugarcane like a chinese man.

on the morn of the 2nd
we woke up at 4:30am and caught a taxi to the airport
it was so early we got there in 0.5 hour which is half the usual transit time
yay for saving taxi fare!
turns out in china, you only need to be 2 hours early so the check in counters weren't even open yet
we ended up sleeping on the seats like hobos but whatever...

we sat towards the back of the plane, where there were a few empty seats so me and isaac took up a 4-seater row and mum slept in the last row.
isaac was sleeping on me when some random man sat down at the end of our row. isaac death glared him when he woke up lol.
i watched columbiana with zoe saldana and tried for most part to sleep but failed.

---
today has been the first relatively normal day.
woke up at 11am, and went out to eat all day with miss valerie rose. i may blog about that at a later date.
then tonight anita came over and we watched NZ and USA videos.
i miss anoushka so much when i watch the USA videos. :(

---

since i've returned to sydney,
i've mostly been sleeping at an average time of 4am and waking up at 2pm.
ABSOLUTE FAIL.
must readjust my clock by monday!

and now it's 1:32am and i feel i will not be sleeping for a little while...
dangit.




donna.

On the final day,
we woke up a little bit early
had a quick brekkie
and rushed off to get bussed to the airport

as we were leaving the hotel:
Mum tripped over at the revolving door.
I was walking behind her and she was being ninja trying to get into the last crack
And it looked like she had made it
But then she fell flat on her face into the bus driver
Me and isaac cracked up and mum was all I'm disowning you children


Good times!

Unforgettables

• Every tour we go on, we also get super close to a group. So sad that we never keep in contact. This time is was Tony and David and Catherine. Thanks for making the tour such a ~trip!
• Stealing soft drinks everywhere and never drinking them
• Disdain at brekkie every morning
• Tony's constipation and our mini groups ongoing concern at his progress
• Isaac sleeping everywhere, even if just for 5 minutes
• Tony being older than David
• The two aunties that are super agro and keep feeling up the Boys
• The constant dirty jokes
• "Everyday I'm shuffling"

donna.

Late start
Brekkie breakthrough on the second-last day: finally realized the burnt toast looking thing was actually banana bread and it was good!

First stop was another summer palace
With the longest corridor or whatever (i think at this point, it's obvious i don't really care cos the places of interest are starting to look the same) (post-hoc wiki: the corridor is actually called Long Corridor)
Went around walking walking - had a really really strong sense of deva ju when we spotted the empress' marble boat; remembering when i first saw it when i was 8...weird.

We were the last group to return to the main tour group again because the boys just HAD to choose that moment to go find a bathroom, big sigh.
Had to power walk back and tony showed us how it was done - i.e. very very effeminately
Then we all started randomly singing 90s music - sclub7 style while they played traditional kicking with the feather thing (post hoc wiki: called a shuttlecock, how could you not know that donna!)

Isaac bought a really dirty panda hat

Then it was Olympic park with the Bird Nest and the water thingy (lol, i'm really trying here, aren't i?)
Bought a kite for RMB5 and it got stuck in a tree
Then the Boys bought 3 gold medals for RMB10
Lols then they wore them all day and pretended they were Olympians from Australia while singing the national anthem. Tony was full bragging that he knew the second verse; and we all argued that you never need it...

Then it was lunch

Then it was the Pearl selling place
Lolsiest thing ever
First it was the girl - who everyone wanted to marry off to Joe
His parents and everyone were there (there were like 11 people from his family on the tour); so it was pretty much meet the parents already.
She didn't even get around to explaining anything cos of everyones questioning - are you married? are you single? how old are you? wanna go to australia?
Then it was the "owner's son" who I really believed but mum told me they did a similar thing in shanghai so maybe it's some random dude dressed in a leather jacket pretending to be the owner's son...
All the old ladies tried to get him cos he has his own diamond mine and stuff. Lol. He was full blushing.
And the funniest thing was the boys were sitting at the front and they had no idea why the whole room was laughing cos the exchange was in mando. They ended up falling asleep...
People bought pearls and jade and the boys pretended to roll everyone with an iPhone gun app

Then it was another arcade mall where mum, isaac and i didn't really buy anything
Got $40 juice then walked down and it was $18

After that, everyone decided to decline the set tour dinner and got the bus to drop us all off at Ghost St (鬼街); reknowned for its dining options
Our tour group split into two groups; ours was 11 people and the other was 42-11=31 people
Ended up in the same place anyway, even thought the 31 people group had already been the place we were going before...
Had really really good Peking Duck and duck liver

 

our awesome awesome aussie + catherine (from US) group. note: the middle lady in the red looks like the evil grandma in spirited away

Then we taxied back to hotel with catherine before saying good night
So tired cos had no naptime in the car today

Showered and went to bed with wet hair
Then heard doorbell and people mumbling at the door
Was tony and david getting our Guangzhou digits
Mum was like I don't know what it is so I popped up like a zombie from my cot and stuggled to find my phone
Then they came in for a little while and isaac was sleeping with his blankets half way up his ass and he was wearing my leggings
Looooool




donna.