My Playground

on the left: Popcorn from Garrets. I bought the medium sized pack of Chicago Mix popcorn, which is priced at RM21. The popcorn is high in flavour - hence the steep price. The first few bites were nice but after awhile I cannot eat it anymore because it was too sweet. Popcorn beli kat GSC jelah lol. 

on the right: Macarons bought at Molten Lava. one piece for RM3.30. I bought salted caramel, hazelnut, black sesame, and peanut butter. It was not bad but a tad too sweet for my liking. An overdose of sugar just kills the taste of the individual macs. 

Both shops are located at One Utama. 

At the Immigration Museum. A must go to anyone who is interested to know more about the immigration history of Australia. 

Koko Black - a delicatessen famous for chocolate treats. 

Grampians National Park - Australia’s National Park. Brambuk is located in the park and is managed by the Aborigines. 

Soaps sold at Victoria Market! The place looks like a typical ‘pasar’. Just like any pasar, they have everything. Just name it - fruits, vegetables, meat, souvenirs, etc. Stuff there are quite cheap too.

Flinders Street Station - Central railway station of Melbourne.

Inside Melbourne Museum. Since Australia does not really have that much history, benda2 macam ni je on display kat museum -animals, aquatic life, dinosaurs, brain games!?!? *face palm* The only exhibition that I deem worth visiting in the museum was the Aborigines culture and also the exhibition on Phar Lap, Australia’s most famous race horse.

Went for my usual jog this morning.

I saw a crushed snail and another snail sitting next to it.

I kneeled down and stroked the other snail to check whether it is alive or not.

A sudden shudder of its body confirmed that it was indeed alive.

It looks so sad just sitting there next to its dead friend.

I continued to jog for another two rounds and checked on the snails again.

It was still there. Not an inch away from its friend. Sigh.

I know it sounds completely ridiculous for me to care so much for a couple of snails! macamlaaah takde benda lain to care about kan? but we as human beings don’t really know how animals feel. There is no conclusive research that indicate that animals takde feelings. So whenever you feel the need to scare or terrorize harmless animals just think about it for a second. 

The NGV is an art gallery in Melbourne. They display an array of art from eastern and western parts of the world and from different time centuries. Mostly paintings are on display but they have a few sculptures and artifacts aswell.

If you aren’t a fan of art, a visit to NGV might be a bore but I believe that everyone should visit art galleries when traveling to a foreign country as to better understand and appreciate the history and culture of that particular country.

The entrance to NGV.  

Special exhibition on display. Modernity in German Art.

One of the many rooms displaying different types of art.

Ok, take a look at this painting. It looks huge because I zoomed my camera. In actual fact, it’s quite small. Uhm, it’s probably the size of a man’s tshirt. Beautiful painting right? 

I zoomed in even further here. Do you see how intricate the painting is. Look at the lace details and the folds on the dress are drawn perfectly. It looks like a photograph! The painter must have used the tiniest brush on the planet and the patience of a saint to be able to complete this painting. People in those ancient times have incomparable talent, no doubt about that.

I guess that the closest definition to chocolateria is a chocolate shop! When we were in Melbourne, we paid a visit to Chcolateria San Churro. Their speciality here is the churros, hence the name, San Churro.

We ordered:

1) 6 pieces of churros with milk chocolate dip and dark chocolate dip.

2) Affagato (ice cream dipped in hot expresso)

3) Chilli chocolate drink (this was amazing. my throat tinged from the spices but it was a good taste!)

4) Coffee chocolate drink

Churros are spanish doughnuts. They are kind of like fried dough sticks which look quite similar to ‘cakoi’. Churros are normally sprinkled with icing sugar before serving them with chocolate dip. The taste is so yummy especially when eaten while its hot. 

And this is the layout at the front of the store. They sell a mix of chocolate treats aswell ranging from chocolate bars, truffles, chocolate powder and everything chocolate-lah.

Was on holiday for 10 days in Melbourne with the family. It was just an okay holiday destination in my opinion. This minor letdown for me was due to Australia not having alot of history and culture (apart from the Aborigines heritage). Apart from that, the scenery was very tropical and sandy along the way. Plus, it was very repetitive. Its the same scenery everywhere. lol. 

I enjoyed the churros! some museums, the penguin parade, the free tram, victoria market, and the fruits! man, Aussie has the best fruits!.

I have finally compiled my reading list for the holidays. It was difficult selecting a hand few of books over the others but pheww I managed it. Here I present to you the 9 books that I plan to read over the holidays.

1. Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (finished!)

2. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

3. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

4. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness

5. Divergent - Veronica Roth

6. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

7. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (this will be a challenge to read because of the length and historical content but i’ll try :) I have super high expectations for this book and even went all out to buy the best translated edition of this book. It was written originally in French.)

8. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

9. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Photo credit : google

“When I was about eight, I decided that the most wonderful thing, next to a human being, was a book.” Margaret Walker