Jun 24, 2014

49 Seats @ Kreta Ayer Road


Every gathering with them is a reminiscence of our unforgettable student exchange days in Sweden.

We kind of 'promised' to have a bi-monthly meetup, which obviously failed simply because we are working adults now.

Like every other gathering, we talked about our fruitful trips in Europe and the funny moments we had in Lund University, the cool breeze that swept us over as Min Khai and I made our periodic return cycling trips from Sparta to Östra Torn, where Phoebe and Yiting stayed, for a dinner, for a movie screening, or just anything.


Seafood Marinara Pasta @ $13.90


Chicken Chop @ $13.90


Pan Fried Fish with Al Scampi Sauce @ $16.90


Tom Yum Seafood Pasta @ $14.90
This seems to be their signature dish, but too bad my taste bud isn't catered for Thai food


And, I wonder when will our next meetup be...

49 Seats
49 Kreta Ayer Road
Singapore 089007


Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.

Jun 2, 2014

Perth, Australia


29th May (Thu) - 02 Jun (Mon) 2014

Lodging: University Hall, University of Western Australia





University Hall, UWA
3 months ago, back in March, when I was having my birthday lunch with Yumi at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, I asked if I could visit her in Perth since she's now studying there in the University of Western Australia (UWA). "Sure!", with her firm reply, the straightforward me immediately had my calendar set for my first trip to Australia, the 4th continent which I'm gonna first step on.

Thanks to the identical time zone, I didn't have to change my camera time setting.

My acquaintance with Yumi dates back to when we're in high school, through the Chinese orchestra community, though we're from different high school with different orchestra conductor. Back then, I couldn't stress enough how pretty I think she is. :D

My flight details
29 May 2014 (Thu)
Changi Airport Terminal 2 - Perth Airport Terminal 1
Flight No: TZ 8 (Scoot)
12:30PM ­- 5:15PM

02 Jun 2014 (Mon)
Perth Airport Terminal 1 - Changi Airport Terminal 2
Flight No: TZ 7 (Scoot)
6:25PM ­- 11:45PM

Fare: S$426.22 (I added luggage check in a few days before my flight and S$90 was added to the original fare of S$336.22)

AUD20 was also spent on the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) application.


Day 1

Thanks to Yumi, I was informed earlier that I needed to get to Terminal 2 or 3 via the airport shuttle bus to board bus 37 or 40 towards the city. The pickup point is right in front of the arrival exit, and I thought the airport terminals should be near to each other, so I totally didn't expect that shuttle bus ride took more than 10 minutes - so much further than I thought!

Bus ride without a bus pass in Perth is painful - A$4.20 to get to Esplanade Busport from Terminal 2 or 3. I prepared 5 one dollar coins so I still need an $0.80 change, and the Asian-looking bus driver is kind and friendly, "yes, I have plenty of change for you...".


Trà Vinh Vietnamese & Chinese Special Noodles House
Picked up by someone with a familiar face at the busport, I kind of wanted to ask, "Yumi, don't you feel cold wearing a skirt?"

We took a bus from there to Northbridge, and had our dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant along William Street.

I should have expected an average eating out in Perth to be more expensive, as a bowl of noodles costs around A$12. And random enough, that's when Yumi learnt that I don't eat celery due to it's awful tastes and smell - how can vegetable with such disgusting taste be used for culinary purpose?!

Well, soup and spring rolls were great, and there goes my 1st day in Perth.




Yumi's hostel room
My accommodation was settled in the very beginning - Yumi's studio apartment hostel room in University Hall of UWA along Winthrop Ave (it pretty much made me recall Leong Chye's former hostel room in Portsmouth, UK).

It was so thoughtful of her that she borrowed me an electrically powered air mattress from her friend so that I didn't have to sleep on the floor (which was her initial plan XD).

Claimed by Yumi, unfortunately, that the air mattress was deflated overnight due to my weight. Certainly there's a leakage somewhere in the mattress that we couldn't locate, and I have to say that I had a pretty bad sleep the 1st night.

She offered to sleep on the air mattress instead while I sleep on her own bed. But don't get fooled by her kindness (she just loves the air mattress and using my weight as an excuse).


Day 2

Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.

Jun 1, 2014

York, Australia



Great Eastern Highway
This post is a sequel of Perth, Australia.
Read more.

Thanks to Yumi's friend, Aaron who lent us his red Holden car. It's a 1.5 hour drive from Perth to York, situated 97 km eastwards.

York Town Hall


York Town Hall

You may get yourself a handy York Town Map from the town hall, or download a PDF copy from their website.

Penny Farthing Sweets 5/125 Avon Terrace


Avon Park Lowe Street


Swing Bridge across Avon River Pool Street


and here comes the lead attraction of York...

Mount Brown

Mount Brown Lookout
If you'll ever visit York, Mount Brown is definitely somewhere you have to go!!

I did see someone who walked up there, but, it's really much much time and energy saving to drive up to the top.












This is taken by Yumi's iPhone 4S without gimmick editing. Guess how we did that.


Then we drove down the mountain and chilled for a while at Nguyen's Bakery Cafe along Avon Terrace.


Tipperary School
Tipperary School used to be one of the single-teacher schoolhouses in the district, not anymore now.

A clay moulder nearby offered to unlock the school and tell us the history of it for a few dollar donation.

The school has two rooms (as you can see there're two chimneys), the classroom on the left and the teacher's bedroom on the right.

It makes me feel the sacredness of the teacher's job, living in such shoddy abode. The teacher must have been having a hard time sleeping due to cold weather.





That's basically all for York, nothing really much. Initially we planned to visit the Piano Graveyard there but we were told that it is closed down when we called few days before visiting York.

After finding that there're not much places left for visiting, we headed back to Mount Brown which we visited earlier in the afternoon to embrace my second beautiful sunset in Australia (same goes to the chit chatting part while enjoying the view).


夕陽無限好,只是近黃昏





Bye York! And we headed back to Perth for dinner with one of my primary school mate.
Read more about from day 4 onwards here.

Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.