31 Dec 2022 - Bid farewell to 2022 and Welcome 2023

Another year has passed and let's welcome 2023!  Hopefully, 2023 will be a brighter and peaceful year for everyone.  I hope that we can all have lesser conflict at home, at school, at work, both locally and globally.  Just be contented with what we have and treasure every moment with people around us.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to ALL!

25 Dec 2022 - Turning our living room into a KTV

It's Christmas and we decided to buy ourselves a present, a TeoHeng Home Karaoke System.  The system came with a KTV box, a pair of speakers, a pair of microphones and a glass microphone holder.  There are many brands out there and one reason why we chose Teo Heng KTV set is because there is no recurring subscription fee to download new songs.  We could use our mobile phone to control the system including select songs to sing, adjusting volume, echo, keys etc, just like in an actual KTV room.  There is a mobile app as well as a WeChat mini program.  So far, we think this is a good investment though it may take a while to "breakeven".

24 Dec 2022 - Xmas Eve Dinner

It's Christmas Eve and we were worried that it'll be crowded in most restaurant.  As such, we decided to have our dinner slightly later.  It's a right decision.  Firstly, we were able to get a parking lot at the mall's carpark easily as most cars were leaving.  Then we managed to get a table at the restaurant without any waiting.  Sometimes during weekend, we had to wait for at least 10-15mins to get a table here.

Wishing everyone a Merry Xmas!

12 Dec 2022 - A short visit to Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum

Since few years back, we started playing Escape Room game at least once during the school holiday.  So that's the plan today but before that, we had our lunch at Tom & Nick restaurant in Chinatown.  After lunch, since we still had sometimes before the game starts, we decided to pay a visit to the nearby Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum.

Though we had passed by this temple quite a few times in the past, we had never entered the building till today.  

Built in 2007, the temple gets its name from what the Buddhists regard as the left canine tooth of Buddha, which has been recovered from his funeral pyre in Kushinagar, India and displayed on the temple’s grounds.

The Buddhist Culture Museum on the third floor holds an array of revered artefacts of the Buddha, such as bone and tongue relics, and the Sacred Light Hall on the fourth floor contains the temple’s centrepiece, which is The Buddha Tooth Relic.

Admission to the temple and Saturday's weekly-guided tours are free of charge.

5 Dec 2022 - Moon at dusk

This evening as I was walking along a pavement, I saw the moon over a clear blue sky.  I quickly pulled out my iPhone 14 Pro, zoomed in at the moon and snapped a few shots at it.  The results (below) actually turned out much better than I would have expected.

2 Dec 2022 - Beautiful Double Rainbow

On my way home from work, I was very excited when I saw a partial rainbow appearing in the sky.  Once I reached home, I immediately went up to my roof terrace and wow......it's a double rainbow! 

The rainbow lasted quite a while before it started to fade away.  

29 Nov 2022 - Too much urban light

After I managed to capture Milky Way using an iPhone 14 Pro during our recent overseas trip, I decided to try the same feat back home.  It failed due to all the urban lights in the neighbourhood.  Below is the best I can capture with a few stars visible.  

26 Nov 2022 - Day 13: (Melbourne Airport) Flying Home

Though our flight back was in the afternoon, we had to return our car at Melbourne Airport in the morning.  Otherwise, we will have to pay for 1 more day of rental fee.  It also means that we would be waiting in the airport for quite a few hours.  We found a place to sit and had some desserts.

Our flight back to SG was full.  Travel is now back to normal.  In fact, it seemed like the travel demand had even exceeded the pre-Covid level.  That's good news for people working in the travel industry. :-)

Back to Itin

25 Nov 2022 - Day 12: (Melbourne) Dinner and Night Shopping at Watergardens Shopping Centre

Located 27km from Melbourne's CBD, Watergardens is a focal point for the western suburbs and the heart of the Taylors Lakes community. Established in 1997, the centre is the first-choice shopping destination for locals who enjoy its relaxed and friendly atmosphere.  

It's dinner time and we decided to have our meal at Ajisen Ramen restaurant.

Here are what we ordered.

After dinner, we walked around the mall admiring the Xmas decorations.

Next to the shopping mall was a carnival where there was a huge ferris wheel.  It was beautifully lighted up at night.

We had come to an end of our 12 days Adelaide to Melbourne self-drive trip.  Despite all the long drives, we had some of the most spectacular views in Australia.  Hope my itinerary will be useful for those who are planning on a similar trip.

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25 Nov 2022 - Day 12: (Melbourne) Check-In to Quality Hotel Taylors Lakes

We checked in to Quality Hotel Taylor Lakes for our last night of this trip.  We chose this hotel because it's near to a huge shopping mall and it's also a short drive to Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport.  We did not plan to drive into Melbourne CBD in this trip.

The room is clean and comfortable with 2 single beds and a double bed.

The room size is quite decent.

After resting for a bit, we drove off to Watergardens Shopping Centre, which is about 2km away.

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25 Nov 2022 - Day 12: (Melbourne) Organ Pipes National Park

It's about an hour's drive from Ballarat to Organ Pipes National Park in the outskirt of Melbourne.  The Organ Pipes National Park is located at the eastern-most edge of one of the world’s largest ancient volcanic lava flows, stretching 350 kilometres from the edge of Melbourne to the western border of Victoria.

The initial walk from the carpark is down a short but very steep hill. Whilst the bitumen path is smooth it is steep.

We had some amazing views along the path towards the Organ Pipes.

After about 20 minutes of descending the steep path, we arrived at the Organ Pipes.

Towering above charming Jacksons Creek, the impressive basalt columns that resemble organ pipes were formed about a million years ago when huge quantities of molten lava were ejected from volcanoes near what is now Sunbury and flowed over the Keilor Plains.

Now it's time to ascend the same steep path that we took earlier.  Very obvious, Jerlene had the most stamina and was right in front while the 3 of us were struggling behind to catch up. :-P

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25 Nov 2022 - Day 12: (Ballarat) Lunch at McDonalds

We had our lunch at McDonalds in Ballarat city centre before driving towards Melbourne.

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