Dreams...

Sometimes, you want something so badly, 

That you convince yourself the opposite, 

So you won't get so devastatingly disappointed, 

If it doesn't happen...

You smile, and act like you're indifferent, 

But really, you dream about it, 

even when you're not asleep...

I wish...

I want...

I need....

Only time will tell. 

And wait, is all I can do. 

Recognition...

This post may offend... I'm sorry if it does. It is not posted, with intentions to harm or offend anyone. But in order to express myself, I reckon my opinion will make a few unhappy... So, if you think you might be one of them, please do exit now.... or enter with caution. 

During my trip to Cambodia, one day, the tour bus went to pick up another family that was joining us for half a day before they left for their next holiday destination. It was a family of 5 - mom, dad, brother and 2 sisters. 

Suddenly, one of the girls asked if I studied at ***. 

I replied with a "Yes, I did" looking at her, trying to figure out if I was suppose to know her. 

"I studied there too, but I did *** course"

"Oh.... okayyyy" Still no idea who she is (O.o) 

She then proceeded to tell me that her sister is currently pursuing her medical degree in XXX, (Again, not meant to offend anyone) and is completing her fourth year. Apparently, she plans to work in Australia upon graduating, and was asking me what it's like working here. 

"It's not bad :D" was all I could say...

Because in my mind, I really wanted to ask her - 

"Why did you study in XXX, if really you wanna work in Australia?" 

I know at the end of the day, it's not where you graduated from, that determines how good a doctor you are. But I have to admit, that given the choice, wouldn't you want to graduate from a prestigious university that you can be proud of? Wouldn't you wanna know that you're getting quality education, from a place that produces quality doctors? Rather than have your qualifications be doubted and scrutinized, and examined under the microscope by different councils / bodies?

Some will proceed to tell me "Who wouldn't wanna graduate from XXX uni? But they lack the $$$ and the grades to make the cut?" 

I know of many who have gone to all parts of the world to pursue medicine. And I applaud them for their determination, of wanting to be a doctor - for whatever reason, only they will know. To save lives and make this world a better place, to fulfill their childhood dream, because it's truly their passion to do the job and help others, to get the title in front of their names, for status and glory?? who knows! 

But it just got me to thinking, how far would you go, to get that DR. in front of your name?? 

I always believed that some people are meant to be doctors, and some just aren't. They might still make good surgeons though! **again, no offence** 

But sometimes, the best surgeons really do have the stinkiest attitude, and treat their patients as a subject, or worse, a piece of meat. (But of course, I've seen surgeons who are sooo good with people, they remember every single one of their patients' names AND the procedure they had done).

And it's not always dependent on which university you came from, or how high your scores were... but it's something that comes from within. It takes a combination of knowledge, with passion to make a good doctor. It's not about how much you can do, but sometimes, knowing where your boundaries are. 

On a different note: 

My sister was telling me the other day, that one of her college friends doesn't hang out with "the gang" anymore, perhaps because she feels like she's a step above them since she's studying medicine... And I can't help but agree with her, that there are heaps of people like that in the world. Just because they are doctors, or doctors-to-be, they feel as if everyone else is inferior to them? 

And what really made me laugh was, she was studying at ***** (some place that's not widely recognised).

Please, do get off your high horse and look around you? You're no different to everyone else!! You're the reason why people perceive doctors in a less-than-favourable way! You're the reason why others don't like hanging out with doctors, thinking they are clique-ish, arrogant snobs. 

Anyways, I'm blabbing and digressing...

The point(s) of this post: 

1. It is important to come from a "recognised" university. It makes your job hunting alot easier upon graduation. Personally, I'd rather not be a doctor, than be a lousy produce, from a lousy factory. You get the drift. 

2. If you do come from a prestigious university, good on you. Recognise that, and keep it to yourself. There is no need to put others down, to make yourself feel better. 

I have digressed so much, I don't even know what I was trying to write about originally... But again, my sincerest apologies if I have offended anyone. 

Weekend Away

Khar and his friends made plans to go up to Hotham for the weekend last week, and asked if we wanted to come. We've just returned from New Zealand, but then Jon's colleague revealed that he has a holiday house in Bright, and was offering it to us at a very good price.... so we thought, why not?! 

So, we drove to Bright after work on Friday evening and spent a night in Bright... a quaint little town, about an hour away from Hotham and Falls Creek. Bright is filled with motels and vacation houses, I believe, that they thrive on the tourism industry... 

Anyways, we arrived at Tudor Village and unpacked our bags.

Our lovely bedroom...

The dressing and wardrobe. 

The place was really quite huge for just the two of us. It is a 2 bedroom unit, with a queen sized bed in one room, and 2 single beds in the other. 

Fully furnished kitchen, if you ever need to do your own cooking. 

The lounge and dining area - very cosy. The place looks rather new too, and very clean! We were looking for hotels on Wotif initially, and the pictures didn't really impress me that much! I was afraid that we were gonna get some dodgy place, that's old and dirty....

But really, Jon's colleage saved me from all that! Thank you!!

The next morning, we got up early, and made our way up to Mt. Hotham...

The sun hasn't fully waken up yet. We wanted to get up there about 8, so we didn't have to get stuck with the crowd that's driving up on the Saturday morning. The drive was relatively scary, and we had to put chains on... but it was NOTHING like the drive up to Remarkables! 

The roads here are sealed, and they have signs posted everywhere! Warnings, where to put chains on etc. So it was still quite safe. And Jon's a good, experienced driver... so I guess that makes the journey a little less scary. I swear my heart would have flown out from my chest if I had to drive! :P 

We met up with Khar, Karen and the rest of the gang in front of Summit for a few warm up runs :) The Summit looked and felt sooooo easy this time around, as compared to the first time I ski-ed! It felt like nothing!! It took us about 3 minutes, probably?? to get to the bottom... whereas I took an hour the first time!! An hour!!! And I was stuffed by the time I got to the bottom!! OMG~!

We proceeded to explore the other side of the mountain in the arvo. I have just realised that Hotham has ALOT of black diamond, and double diamond runs!!! Bbrrrr.... 

The only pic of us up in the mountain that day. We were too busy exploring and conquering the runs to be snapping photos. And besides, it started snowing in the afternoon, so after awhile... it just felt like too much trouble...

Having hot soup and bun for lunch! Despite Jon's facial expression, I thought the soup tasted quite yummy! He was merely sticking his tongue out at me for snapping a candid shot of him...

Post lunch - at the bottom of Summit. Posing for a photo...

Mei on ski's with her new poles :) Yes, I got myself new poles from Wayne Ritchie's the other day, cause I felt that my old ones were too short. Hehe. Yes, I know I'm too lazy to bend down and push myself... :) But no, these ones are of a better length, really... 

We wanted to snap more pics, especially when the guys were attempting the jumps and rails in the arvo, but the camera died :( No more batt. Yeaps, I didn't charge it before the trip.... **bite me!**

The next day, we "checked out" and went for a walk around Bright. 

**Note the difference in picture quality. These are taken using my mobile phone**

Came across this quaint little shop that sells cutesy trinkets, and Christmas deco... and a sign posted in front of the shop that made us stop for a photo....

"Husband parking only" Hahaha... how cute!! The husbands can all wait outside while their wifes shop till they drop inside! :) 

We then came across this lolly shop called "The Sweet Retreat". They have all kinds of lollies that I haven't seen in ages!!! Jon snapped up some Pop Rocks, Fizzos, and we got a bottle of boiled lollies for Jon's mom and dad. We wanted to get some eye balls too, but decided against it! 

Look at him! Absolutely beaminggggg....

The afternoon was spent doing some healthy activity - hiking!! Yes, we went for the Canyon Walk. Don't ask me what made us do that...

Mei @ the start of the Canyon Walk. It says 1.5 hours to complete the walk.... but Jon claimed that I would need 3 hours, at the rate I was going! Hmph!! I reckon I was going quite well, really... And no, we didn't need 3 hours to complete the walk! 

Jon on the swing bridge. He was trying to jump up and down, like a little kid... to scare me. But I did not fret :) Mei's cool as a cucumber... OohhHhh.... 

Mei on the swing bridge. 

On the riverbank. He kept telling me to go closer to the water... I knew he was up to something mischievious! Thank God I didn't get too close, cause he was gonna push me in! Naughty boy!!!

The place was realllyyyy nice! The air was clean and crisp, and the sun was shining in all its glory! The only thing that was missing, was Remy! I bet Remy would have loved this walk!! 

A photo of us to complete the collection. Hehe. Too bad we had to take it ourselves, cause there was nobody else on the trail to snap photos for us! There was a couple in front of us before, but they turned back when they realised that the trail is unsealed... 

Maybe they were afraid that they'll get murdered and thrown into the river, and noone would have realised... kekekke.. Ok, now... why did I even think of that?! 

Anyways... that sums up my weekend... How was yours? Did you have a good time too??

On the way back to good ol' "4 seasons in a day" Melbourne. It started getting gloomy and dark when we got back onto the Hume Highway, approaching Melbourne....

Maybe it was a sign, that God felt sad for us too, that we needed to return to work the next day :( Boohoohoo.... 

No more getaway for me in awhile, cause I'm working the whole weekend! :( OH NOOOO.. So sad!! Send me some love people! 

XOXO

Absence

Makes the heart grows fonder...

It's been two days since you've been gone. 

It feels awkwardly quiet around the house without your witty jokes. 

I've been spending some quality time with the little boy... 

And he's been real good to me, sleeps beside me to keep me company. 

But I can tell, that he misses you too, 

Just like I do. 

Everything's just the same at home...

Yet, so different. 

Come home soon, daddy. 

We miss you heaps. 

Something besides skiing...

New Zealand wasn't all about skiing~! Ok fine, that was a very big part of it, but hey!! we did some shopping and other touristy sight seeing stuff too! :D 

We went up the Skyline Gondola one of the afternoons... Since I was really tired from skiing, my legs couldn't hold me anymore.. so we left early from the ski fields that day, and went back to the hotel for a little rest... Headed out late in the afternoon, to hopefully catch the sunset from the peak of the moutain. 

Onboard the Skyline Gondola. The ride wasn't very long, but it was quite steep... and I like the little gondola's. They are only designed to fit four. It's alot more personal than the larger ones that fit 6 to 8, resulting in having to share a gondola with strangers...

But it wasn't very busy that afternoon anyways, so we got the whole gondola to ourselves :D Hehehe.... The view was quite spectacular as we ascended, and I started getting trigger happy... 

Jon posing with his matching red scarf. 

It started getting really cold and windy once we got up to the top! I was very bundled up as I realise that I don't have much insulation from the cold. 

Jon, and the infamous Lake Wakatipu on the background. 

There it is! The AJ Hackett Bungy Jumping station **on the top right corner**, and some random person who just jumped off! Everytime someone jumps, you can hear the whole crowd cheering him / her on!! Note the "cheering / viewing station" on the bottom right of the photo. 

Mei on the beautiful lookout. My hair was all messed up from the wind. Quite glad I had my head band on to keep my ears warm... 

Cold, crisp air... and breathtaking scenery. I sometimes wish I could just stay in Queenstown forever! 

Day view....

Night view...

Yes, we stayed after the sunset till the skies got dark. We had coffee and light snacks at the skyline restaurant, soaking in the beautiful views... Surprisingly, the food was really cheap! I think that was the biggest bowl of NZ$6 wedges I've ever seen in my life! And it was yummy too!!!

I remember the food in KL Tower being really expensive, and frankly not that great!! It was just the view that was spectacular... 

We were sooo full that we couldn't even have dinner that night. So, we ended up ordering room service late that night, after doing our laundry and stuff...

The next day would have been the coldest day I've ever experienced in my entire life!!! We went to Cardrona, another mountain located between Wanaka and Queenstown. It's a beautiful mountain that has a good range of beginner's, intermediate and advanced slopes... 

But it was too cold and windy that day to really see much of it. I reckon we only saw one side of the mountain. It was too windy and frosty on the other side, that they had to close the chair lift on the other side.

Mei and Jon, hiding indoors to defrost.

Ash and Mei, camwhoring - what more can we do indoor? We can only eat so much! Hehehe...

Apparently, upon returning to Queenstown... we found that it was the windiest day ever! The Remarkables was closed cause it was too windy, and Mt Hutt was closed as well, because they had a hugeeee dump (1 metre) of fresh snow, that they had to clear the area because it was unsafe!

That night, we were realllyyyy craving for Nando's... but since Nando's was in Frankton, and not in Queenstown, we settled for KFC instead....

But treated ourselves to some Belgian Waffles @ Lick. 

Jon had the hazelnut waffles,

While I had the hot and cold - gelati in warm toasties... That was reallllll yummmmmm...

The nights were usually spent shopping and bar hopping! I, of course didn't drink much after what happened on the first night! We went to this bar, and the bartender made me this real yummy cocktail, which was sweet... and I couldn't taste the liquor at all... but that was bad news!! I ended up chucking in a public bin, in front of a convenience store! Hahaha... how embarassing indeed! 

I reckon that's the danger of cocktails! You don't really know what you're having, or how much alco is in your drink, because they always taste so yummy! 

Our last day was spent just mucking around really. Did a couple of runs, and they we all bombed out.... Oh, talking about bombs, they were blasting snow up in the Remarkables that day, creating little avalanches to prevent big, dangerous ones! It was my first time hearing and seeing them blasting snow! Hehe... **what a jakun**

SNOW FIGHT TIMEEE~!!! He's been attempting to get me the wholeeee week... I shall just give him a chance :P Keke...

Snowman building in the arvo...

Look at Jon's amazing attempt at rolling the snowman's head! :) I reckon it's huge ass!

I couldn't even lift it off the ground! 

Our finished product :D He's tall huh?? Taller than me!! 

Two men and a snowman....

The last night was spent celebrating... at Bardeaux. It seems like we almost always end up there when the guys wanna have a drink. Probably because they have a beautiful fireplace! Sitting in front of the fire, enjoying a glass of wine on a cold wintery night. 

Ash and Mei in Bardeaux. 

We slept like babies after the long day, and the wine. I only had lemonade... hehehe. We were too tired to even pack our bags that night.

Our last photo, in the hotel cafe, while waiting for the airport shuttle to come get us. We each had a coffee, spending our last few NZ dollars... 

And that ends our holiday :( :( Heading back to good ol' Melbourne... 

This wraps up my NZ posts.... But I'm beginning to feel that my blog is slowly turning into a travel blog! :) More updates to come on my beautiful and enjoyable weekend. Stay tuned and be good, all! 

XOXO

And yes, I shall stop blogging from work. SSshhhhh.

Hitting the NZ slopes...

Night skiing at Coronet Peak was definitely too cold for me. Wasn't quite my cuppa tea, partially because I was already exhausted from the long flight and lack of sleep from the night before.... 

So, the next day, we decided to head up to Coronet Peak again, to take a better look at the slopes :D and hit the runs that I didn't get to the night before.... 

During the day, the place miraculously transforms! It is soooo pretty, the view is just... splendid! :) 

Literally up on cloud 9 :) I was actually quite reluctant to move to the edge. I was afraid that I would fall off, and die! hhehehehe.... There is no barrier what-so-ever. Not even trees to cradle your fall! 

The ski fields in NZ are all.... just white and bare! It's awesome, yet scary at the same time! Hehe....

Jon's on top of the world.... quite literally~! :D 

View of the slopes from the base. It soooo does not do the place justice! It looks alot more awesome in real life, but the "white" just somehow doesn't show... and comes out in pics as a white pic... and that's it!

At the bottom left is the cafe and restaurant, with underground heating, so there's no snow on the ground at all. Quite awesome huh??

After spending 2 days at Coronet Peak, we decided that we should now explore, and conquer another mountain... so the next day, we decided to wake up early, and head up to the infamous Remarkables!

We took the ski shuttle up to the mountains everyday cause we were too lazy to rent a car and drive ourselves up. Besides, we already paid for it in our ski package anyways. And geez, I have to admit that the rides were really scary! Especially up the Remarkables. The roads were unsealed, and there was no barricades on the sides what-so-ever! 

The ski bus even slided a couple of times, even with chains on! I really thought I was gonna die! Some girl was so scared, she was crying in the bus! I really felt sorry for her... but hey! seriously, I was scared myself, but not yet to the verge of crying... hehe.

Jon was quite excited to hit The Stash once we got to the Remarkables... 

Some rules before riding the Stash. 

And the features in The Stash were really quite huge! I just went in, didn't go onto any of them, and then came right out again. Hehehe... I think they're really meant for pro's... well, or at least black skiiers / riders. I wouldn't wanna break any bones just yet...

Ash arrived in NZ, and met up with us @ The Remarkables :) He didn't come with us, as he was flying from Brisbane, and so he made his own arrangements and accomodation etc. None-the-less, it was good seeing him after so long.

That night, we had Korean for dinner, cause it was soo cold, we just wanted to have something hot and soupy :) 

There are heaps of Korean and Japanese restaurants around! I think they cater for the many Japanese tourists around the area. Even the salesperson in LV was a Japanese girl! 

We had the seafood hotpot - yummy authentic Korean food! Just look at the lobster! I've never had seafood hotpot in Melbourne, that had lobster in it! 

The Korean guy was really funny too! His accent really cracked me up, and he kept smiling, bowing and saying "thank you". Hehehe.

We didn't stay out late that night, cause Ash was pretty tired, and also because we wanted to get up to the snow early the next day... so we just walked around for abit, did some late-night shopping **which is great! cause the shops open till 9 or 10 every night!** and then headed back to the hotel to catch some ZzZ's. 

Our second day up the Remarkables. I just loveeee the snow, crisp, white snow~! 

Us, and the Burton's The Stash mascot - the Kia bird. 

Us on top of a black run that afternoon. I think Ash has had enough for the day. He had lessons in the morning, and I didn't think he'd wanna attempt a black run in the afternoon, considering he's never boarded previously! 

But all-in-all, I'd say he did pretty well by the end of the trip!

More pics. Notice the tag on Jon? We had one each, and it entitles us to the ski lifts and ski shuttles the whole time we were there. So we didn't have to use coupons, or keep buying tickets. I reckon it's a good way to do things. So convenient for us, we didn't have to carry anything around! 

Us again... I like this pic :D Thanks Ash!

One of Ash and Jon. 

Candid shot of me at the base. I think I was trying to unclip and "park" my ski's, then head into the cafe to get a drink. 

Another place that you absolutely shouldn't miss, according to the bus driver **when we got picked up from the airport** is grabbing a burger from Fergburger. 

Not knowing what the craze was all about, we decided to go check it out one night, and have fergburger for dinner. And oh Lord!!! That place is massively jam packed with people! With music blasting, and the waitresses calling our numbers **for orders** every 30 seconds or so, this place was nothing short of alive! 

And soon enough, we realised why. Their burgers were huge ass!! AND tastes yummy too!! I sooo regret not taking a photo of the burgers now~! We were too hungry at that point in time, and when our burgers arrived, we just scoffed them down like how cookie monster scoffs down his cookies! Heheheh.... You'd be hungry too, if you were order number 74, and they were only calling out number 25 then! 

Absolute value for money, and is a "must go" if you ever head to Queenstown. Kinda similar to the whole "Grill'd Burger" concept... but not quite! :) 

---------------------------------

Oh, oh, before I forget, this is a pic of us on the chair lift, taken by the official photographer on The Remarkables. You can also view the photos on nzski.com under magic memories, daily photos! :D 

Us, up in the clouds! :D It was awesomeeeeee...

I can't wait to hit the slopes again~! Our ski's and board have been sent for a full service!