Robot Show

Honda ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative MObility) came to Australia last week and I was able to witness the world's most advanced and successful humanoid robot! Asimo can pace at about 3km/h and run up to 6km/h. It interacts surprisingly well with people, so well that I started to suspect the conversation was scripted. Also, it can aim at a spot and kick a ball straight to it, and carry a tray of drinks and place them on a table without spilling a drop.

Honda has spent 15 years making this robot, which I thought would only appear in Steven Spielberg's film. Sooner or later, human will be needing them to perform tasks beyond human's ability and that could be another few decades later. Will see.

Power of Dreams - Honda.

Shapes

Vintage Cheddar and Chives

I am dedicating this page to my favourite savoury biscuit - Arnott's Shapes. My house or office is never short of boxes of Shapes. There are currently 3 boxes in my room, 4 in the kitchen cabinet and 1 in my cubicle drawer. The flavours that I like (in order):
- French Onion & Cheese
- Italian Woodfired Pizza
- Nacho Cheese
- Crispy Puff's Cheese and Onion
- Pizza

I have yet to try the new special edition flavours which I just bought 2 days ago. It is the Shapes Sensations with a slightly different box layout.
- Tomato and Chilli
- Vintage Cheddar and Chives

There is also the Sweet Chilli and Sour Cream from the Crispy Puff's range that I would love to taste. :)

Getaway from work 2

Sydney Opera House

12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road - one of Australia's natural wonders

Mornington Peninsula after a blissfully relaxing hotspring bath

Victorians who really know how to spoil themselves in a relaxed ambience come to Peninsula Hot Springs Center at Springs Lane, Rye. Natural hot mineral springs were found deep underground and there is project going on for further expansion. Apparently they have discovered more hot geothermal water somewhere again.

There are 8 hot spring pools and baths for the public package. Some pools have water temperature up to 50ºC. For that, you are not advised to stay in there for long, or you might get dizziness. We soaked in every single pool for almost an hour and finally we decided to go into the sauna. In there, we met a couple who are frequent visitors to the center. The husband suggested we jump into the small cold pool after coming out of the sauna. I wasn't sure if I could do it, but since everyone did it, I didn't want to be left out. The temperature was at 90ºC in the sauna room and I could feel steam gushing out from my nostrils, as if I was on fire. When everyone left the room, I started to have difficulty breathing as my focus came back from the conversation we had with the Aussies. I then walked out and plunged into the icy-cold pool. It was a totally different experience, a great one, but shortly after coming up, I started to feel the earth was moving and turning. It could be the sudden change that my body could not take.

Overall, it is still a good place for relaxation and rejuvenation. And I don't mind going for the plunge again. :)

Getaway from work

Basking in the sun

The best way to have a relaxing holiday and enjoy the hustle-and-bustle-free city life is to go to the beach. Wide, white, sandy beach it must be. Gold Coast has the longest beach coastline in the southern hemisphere. Surfer's Paradise, as its name suggests, is the best spot for surfing and swimming. We did not have enough time to learn surfing, so we went bodysurfing in the sea (well, that is, chasing after the big waves or letting the waves chase us) as well as basking in the sunshine. The 2-hour there was well-spent, the sun-bathing was heavenly. To simply lie down on the beach enjoying the 25 degree pleasant warmth is what I would ask for if given more time. Of course, taking up surfing lesson is also in one of my Things-to-do list if I ever get the chance to visit Gold Coast in the right season.

Before starting our first swim, there was a barrier we had to overcome - the icy cold sea water. With an outside temperature of 25 degree C, I believe the water was only 5 degree C! I gradually stepped down towards the sea hoping to get slowly used to the temperature, but when it got to knee high, I just could not go further. My whole shoulder went stiff, goosebump came rushing out and I started shivering when a combination of wind and water accidentally hit my body surface. It struck me when Adrian suggested we waste no time so we decided to "Go for Glory!" After enduring a 3-min soak in ice water, my body went numb as if having sensory neurones malfunction.

Bodysurfing is not easy at all on first try. We saw an Ah Pek who was quite good at it, and we tried to follow suit. When the big waves came crashing, we swam as fast as we could towards the shore, riding on the waves. On my first attempt, my entire body was drawn in to the waves which forced a 360 degree turn and swept me almost to knee-depth near the shore. The feeling of helplessness can be quite scary if you are completely out of control. After a few times, we got slightly better and we were both quite exhausted already. With such beautiful weather, we took quite a long rest sunbathing, which was really wonderful. When we returned to the sea for the final round, I can assure you that was the most torturing thing that can ever happen. The sea water was colder than the first time! Imagine our bodies had been kept so pleasantly warm. Somehow, we had to bite our lips and "Go for Glory 2!"

Later on, we had Croc meat and Emu meat to feed our hungry stomach. Crocodile meat tastes like fish, but slightly harder, while emu meat tastes like deer meat.

My trip to Australia

by Adrian Kam

The thing that you liked about Australia: Toilets are big
The thing that you disliked about Australia: The water restrictions imposed
The thing that excited you most: Seeing koala bears in trees
The thing that put you off: Long queue at the Customs
The thing that surprised you most: Weather was much colder than I thought
Food that you liked most: Ribs at Bondi Beach
Food you had most: Korean Food (???)
Place that you liked most: May's house
Place that you would revisit: Crown Casino
Activities that you liked most: Harbour Bridge climb, swimming in Surfers Paradise, visiting Crown Casino
Activities that you would do again: Body surfing in Surfers Paradise
Beer that you liked most: Victoria Bitter
Item you bought that you liked most: Saba jacket
The thing that you hope would be different: My trip would be longer

Most animals seen

Entrance to the Sea World, Gold Coast

See how high dolphins can jump!

In 3 weeks' time, I've seen the most kind of animals, birds, fish, reptiles etc in my life, all unplanned. Some are quite scary especially the lizards and the pelicans! I can imagine Irene screaming if I send her this pic below:

Australian pelican

The scary part is that they do not have any facial expression! They don't move, they don't blink and they look exactly like a painting.

The first type of animal we saw was on our road trip to Sydney - dead kangaroos lying on Hume Highway. I did see a live one when it leapt across the road right in front of my car. I was driving 110km/h and I could have killed it (and had my front bumper smashed) if I did not brake. Luckily it was during midnight with less car on the road. There was another incident when we saw a lady in pyjamas pants standing at the side of the slow lane directing us away to avoid an injured kangaroo sitting in the middle of the road. She held her hands up like Macaulay Culkin's famous pose in Home Alone.

Next was the iguanas that appear everywhere near the coast in Gold Coast. I hate lizards, even the garden lizards in my garden in KK can give me goosebumps. Needless to say, there were also all the sea creatures in Sea World like the sharks, stingrays, dolphins, seal, dugong, polar bears etc. Well, only those and the penguins in Philip Island are planned.

Then there was the koalas hanging and relaxing in gum trees on our way out from Cape Otway Lighthouse towards Great Ocean Road.

Fat koala bear

Most of them were sleeping, only 1 was chewing some leaves at the moment. I noticed that their fingers are separated into 2 and 3 per side. That probably makes gripping easier. And one thing for sure, they stink and their droppings were everywhere.


Last it was during my way home one night. I saw the shadow of a baby fox walking near the main road under the M1 highway just outside my house.

挂羊头卖狗肉

回锅肉 - Twice-cooked Pork

红油鸡块 - Chicken Chunks with Chilli Oil

Thanks Ah Nan for his hospitality during our stay at his house in Southport, Gold Coast. He has 3 beautiful and well-trained dogs - a Labradore (Apple), a Pomeranian 博美 (Atom) and a Dachshunds 腊肠狗 (Angel). Wait, this has nothing to do with the title of this entry.

Ah Nan brought us to have Sichuan cuisine for dinner. Out of my expectation when we reached the dinner place, it is actually a Fish and Chip shop. Many Aussies came to the shop to have take-away fish & chips, only the Chinese people dine in and order Sichuan food. It is 正宗 Sichuan food cooked by Sichuan people, and I really love the cold dish - 红油鸡块. The other dish was a little too hot for me.

There was a family sitting next to our table and was speaking Hakka. I'm pretty sure (99%) that they are from Sabah. They speak Sabah Mandarin. What a small world!

Tweed Heads - border of NSW and QLD. During summer, you will be ahead by 1 hour standing at 1 side of the borderline

Highlight of the Trip

Ascending to the summit of Harbour Bridge

Harbour Bridge night view from Sydney Opera House

Before this trip, I've never heard about climbing Harbour Bridge. I simply didn't know there is such event. On the day of our climb, the weather was beautiful at around 25C. It was drizzling the day before and raining day after. We enjoyed the view, the good weather and the experience! The safety precaution briefing, climb prep and the climb itself took 3.5 hours, you just couldn't feel time has passed. I was personally so impressed with the safety preparation that no wonder it costed us a fortune for the climb. On the wall in the Climb Center, there were pictures of celebrities all around the world posted, who did the climb - Nicole Kidman, Will Smith, Matt Damon, 007, Pat Rafter, Nikki Webster and Kylie Minogue etc.

We had a funny climb leader, well, I think all of them are funny and nice. All the visitors in our group were made to stand in a circle to introduce each other and mingle around as the climb leader prepared our costumes. There were people from UK, Queensland and only 1 Sydneysider. The climb leader gave a thorough history of the bridge construction as well as geography lesson. Too bad no camera is allowed so we only had a few shots taken by the climb leader, which again costs us $30 for 4 4R photos. History of the bridge can be found in the Pylon Lookout, which also features a short b+w film showing the enormous job. The bridge was completed in 1932 after 8 years, the toughest part being erecting the arch. There was no OH&S at that time, technology was not advanced, no computer simulation, it is hard to believe by paper calculation, the two arches from north and south shores successfully joined. It is noteworthy that out of 16 fatalities, there was only 1 or 2 due to falling off the bridge.

As opposed to what my father said, no one paints the bridge. Dad told me there will be people ever painting it because it will take the person a whole year to paint from 1 end to another, but our climb leader has never seen anyone painting the steel during his tenure there. Well, I might have misunderstood my father's statement, as always.

So that was the highlight of our trip to Sydney. I must say that the climb itself was easy.

Excess kilos

Fish Market at Pyrmont

Hurricane's Grill & Bar Steakhouse

This is D Day when both of us gained extra 1 kilos per meal. Morning we had fresh seafood at the Fish Market, with fresh oysters and prawns as entree, baramundi + chips as our main, kilpatrick and mornay as our dessert. For dinner, in celebration of our 3-year anniversary, we made a reservation at Hurricane's Grill in Bondi Beach. It's been a long while since I had good steak and ribs. This place is highly recommended if you ever travel to Sydney. At last, our day of indulgence was wrapped up by few licks of Andersen's ice-cream. There goes my 1-month work-out and carefully-planned diet.

Passion for photography

Sabah's got talent

7 swans were once 7 elegant princesses who bathed in the lake??

Award-winning photo of Sydney's Darling Harbour - only if there were flickers of lightning silhouetting the dark sky

Little did I know that there is a gene in my blood which has got some talent in photography! For the whole night strolling along darling harbour enjoying the night breeze, Adrian was busy finding the right angles shooting photos. Out of boredom, I took an instant lesson and took a few shots. They turned out awesome! Ever since that night, I have been pushing Adrian away snatching his camera away or giving instructions to him for good shots like a director filming a movie. Good fun though.

Beginning of the Food Indulgence at Miss Marples

English scones with home-made strawberry jam

Adrian fully concentrating at his sundae and scone

On the way back from Tulip Farm, if you are taking Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd towards Burwood Highway, you will pass by Cuckoo and Miss Marples tea houses famous for their English scones. Location: 382 Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, Sassafras. You won't believe how crowded it can get at closing hour. We reached there at 4:30pm and thought they were about to close, but luckily we walked in and tried our luck. We ordered the famous scones that came in a pair (1 original 1 fruit by our own selection), tea and the mouth-watering sundae which sits in almost every table in the house. Tea was good too, was sold at the counter together with the strawberry jam.