the covered up nudes

We walked through a short alley at the Rocks and found this:And among his paintings, this:I found it cute how he took the time to cover her up but then again after noticing he had a few covered up nude paintings, I wondered if covering her up was just part of his artwork. Hmm.
Nice huh? You know what they say, there's always something magical at the Rocks :)

To Yi-Aun & Aizat, who watched too many series with me :)

Gary's Paediatrics Notes

Great Britain Tour Part 1

Windsor Castle. I took a couple of pictures with Mom but in all of them, she had her eyes closed. What a bad coincidence (Though I half-doubt it was - she didn't enjoy most the historic castle tours very much. There were once or twice where I caught her nodding off in our historic tours)!

If the Royal Standard flag is raised above the tower behind us, that indicates that the Queen is in; if it's the Union flag is up, then no Queen. It was the Union flag that was hoisted up that day. I presume she was still in London for the G-20 Summit. We saw the guards at St. James indicating that the princes were just behind the walls that we were walking past!! :D

Stonehenge! Very intriguing place. You know how Stonehenge is thought to possess healing properties, standing as a powerful and positive place of pilgrimage. Now, I don't know how much of this is attributed to the cold that day (very cold, rainy weather), but I had a severe headache stepping into the area. Most of you know that I rarely get headaches.

This was taken on the way into the Roman city of Bath. See the Pulteney Bridge up ahead? That would have been how the London Bridge looked like. Now, Pulteney Bridge is one of only four bridges lined with shops/houses in the world. (More on this later...)

Bath Abbey behind me and the Roman Baths on my right, in the (now) English city of Bath. Self explanatory, really - this is where Roman men, well, bathed! ;)

We went on into the walled city of Chester. Behind me are buildings rich with medieval Victorian structure, with most of the ground floor still in its Roman form. I loved how every city had a standard form of architecture. In less than a day, all the yellow-washed limestone buildings of Bath turned into contrasting black-and-whites. It's amazing, and it goes on like that from one city to the next.

Bondi

First off, let me just say how very proud I was that we walked all the way from Bondi Junction Westfields to the beach. Eventhough there wasn't any sun left upon reaching the sand and the sea, it was still a good 30-minute breezy walk that gave me reason to indulge in a whole big-size packet of M&M's (it was selling at half price at Coles!) later that night *heh!*
I also took the extra effort to put make up on and dressed nicely that day for photosnapping purposes. it's such a pain to go out here when there's loads of hopping on off buses and walking involved.
Ohhey, and can you believe it, Jie? Deep fried Mars bar still exist in the very same shop on Bondi Beach even after (like what?) 3 years! I also did the whole touris-y thing you did for me 3 years ago to Yohan too.


**Bet you're suddenly hit by a craving and superduper jealous, Yiaun!

Attention Fei!

'Please come and get me!'

Walking in Hanoi

The first thing we noticed when we left the airport was the *constant* sound of motorists honking away. They do not stop, they simply don't, instead they horn for people to get outta the way.  Now you can imagine why I was concerned about getting on a motorbike.. We had so many close calls (near accidents), even while walking!

There are like eleventy million motorbikes!

(this picture was stolen from somewhere)

Around the city, there is not much of a footpath for pedastrians. Well there is, but there's a bunch of stuff on them, tables, parked motorbikes, stalls, etc. While walking, we not only had to look left and right, but also behind. Them motorbikes will go all over the place, in opposite directions and everything..

Took us a while to get used to it, and we found the best way to walk is simply to relax, not rush, not panic, and move at a constant pace..

Jacq seemed oblivious to all the guys gawking at her while we walked around.. There was this one guy who blew really hard right into her face.. I thought that would freak her out considering how hygiene concious she can be.. We later heard from Ui Hua that blowing was a way to show interest over there.

It felt a bit weird when we left.. no more eleventy million motorbikes honking away..

Back from Real Britain Tour

As some of you might know, I was on tour the last 6 days, going up to Edinburgh, Scotland and all the way back down to London. Took plenty of pictures to post, of course, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to for the next week - it's my last 4 days in London and I have lots to do, even some minor changes to my initial itinerary. Busybusy. So just letting you know :)

Those little statues..

...reminded me of the last time we went!

The Wong Sisters + 1

Oik

That's better~!

This ain't easy

Don't recall what happened here, but it kinda looks like I was assaulted (by Fei)

Guess I came out of that a-okay

I just noticed that Jacq likes to stand behind people in an elevated position while taking photos, as evidenced by these two, and the one with her mom in Paris!

Dropped by this lookout point on the way back

(in case you're wondering about Jacq's weird expression, she was freezing)

Wollonggong still so pretty

Despite going with relatives I'm not so fond of, Wollonggong still allowed me to enjoy its serenity, widespread meadows the Nan Tien Temple ownes and coincidentally, the joyous celebration of Full Moon.

Front Entrance

Statue on the Temple ground

Tiles imported from Taiwan contrast with Mulberry tree and blue skies

Pagoda

Nan Tien Temple Bell on top on the hills - ring for gratitude

Meadow

One of the paintings in the Temple Art Gallery

After a two hour visit and a vegetarian lunch at the temple, we took a drive south to Kiama or 'Kiarama' in Abo which means 'Place where the sea makes a noise'. This seaside town in Illawarra is famous for its natural blowhole and was (of course) packed with tourists yesterday. Eventhough shops usually close for Easter, the alfresco cafes and restaurants stayed open til late purposely catering for us tourists :) Funny thing was... it felt very much like Gold Coast with the trees and the colourful storefronts.

The black hole is the blowhole from where water spurts

the Kiama lighthouse on the Blowhole Point