The really 'chim' (deep) philosophy behind the city of Canberra

THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE

The first hall we arrived at after going through the entrance was this made-of european-materials place. Apparently it is meant to recognise Australia collonial past (under British).

However, as we walked further we stepped into the parts of the building made of Australian authentic materials. It represents a transition from collonial past till the present independent nation. When Kai Xun told us this it's 4.45pm and the parliament was set to close at 5.00 pm. So it was kinda funny because Kai Xun sounded like a professional tour guide talking really fast and all of us were just awed by his sheer knowledge. LOL.

The great wall tapestry. Yeah, from memory (i read the explanation on the sign board) this was produced by three great artists. The forest like image serves as a reminder of .....something like Australia has vast areas of land and the parliament is a place to improve the land's welfare....something like that.

This is the hall for the House Representative. The seats are in green colour. The corresponding Senator hall (which we didn't have time to go) is filled with red seats.

Can you see a Kangaroo and an Emu???

Both animals couldn't move backward. Australia hopes to move forward forever, so to say.

This patch of grass is on top of the Parliament House. The architect who designed the Parliament House really put in alot of thoughts into it. The grass allows the ordinary people to 'step' on their leaders when the parliament meeting is going on.

The people are the King, not the leaders.

And by the way the pathways connecting other places to the Parliament House are just slopes (no stairs). Again the idea is that ordinary Australians are on the same level as their leaders. They can just walk to them. (deep philosophy huh???)

This is the old Parliament House who has already been converted into a gallery.

I remember the weather was so cold (close to -2 degree celcius) that all of us were shivering in cold. For this reason we didn't actually stay long here.

We passed the National Science and Technology Centre but didn't get to visit due to time constraint. Hm...I will certainly pay a visit here next time I go Canberra. We missed out the War Memorial and this one.

Tee Shern Ren -- The reincarnation of Albert Einstein.

FLORIADE -- THE AUSTRALIAN CELEBRATION FOR SPRING.

Jason and me.





























From left: Ru Xing, Pang Paing, Shi Shing and me















From left: Li Cheng, me and Sze Rhui












Tulips and me













We left Canberra at 3.00pm on 23 September 2007.

Thanks guys, I had lots of fun during the 45 hours we spent together. Yeah, we arrived at 6.00pm on Friday and left at 3.00pm on Sunday. Precisely 45 hours.


Special thanks to our couple of the trip: Kai Xun and Su Yin for organising our trip, Jason for being such a funny joker and co-tour guide.

My Spring trip to the city of CANBERRA

My Friday 21st September started with taking some pictures of the cherry blossom trees in front of my house. They were bold during winter but see how pretty they are in spring.

Our journey from Sydney started at 3.00pm and we reached the peaceful city of Canberra around 6.30pm. Waiting at the station were Jason, Jared, Darryl, Leonard etc.

It was nice to see all of them after so long

We had dinner at this famous restaurant (according to them). I personally didn't find the food too fascinating but it was the joy of eating together with my fellow taylorians and two Inti-college people that made the bill worthwhile.

We visited the Ursula hall. Li Cheng and Pang Ping were crashing here. This is the com lab with all APPLE PCs. Apparently the hall imposes some form of quota on every resident on internet usage.

Jared reminded us to bring our passports because he wanted to bring us to 'A FEW BARS'

And yes, he honoured his promise.

We went BAR CRAWLING - moving from one bar to another - in a big group. The ang moh looked like us as if we were some nerds, or perhaps a bunch of teens who had just turned 18 and were eager to try out things unreachable by underaged.

We played drinking game and I lost twice (Sze Rhui, and Su Yin also lost twice; Kai Xun lost thrice; Jared wanted to lose but luck wasn't at his side :)

I drank 2 x half glass = one huge glass of beer and got a bit high and dizzy. But later we went bar dancing to kill the sleeping worm. Haha, and I ended up very energetic.

THE SECOND DAY................

We woke up and got ready for the day trip. But surprisingly the usually sleepy us woke up really really early.Thanks to the bright sunlight of Canberra that shone on my face.

We went to Australia National University.

And this is the ANU equivalent of Macquarie Uni's The Grand Walk

On top of the Telstra tower.

The bird-eye view of Canberra from Telstra tower.

There are flowers all over Canberra during spring. These are just puny little flowers which are step-resistant.

I took this pic on my way down from the Black Mountain on which the Telstra tower is located.

Lake Berley Griffin of Camberra. Canberra being a planned city has got no water - front. For the sake of feng-shui the Aussie dug a man-made lake, named after the architect of Canberra Berley Griffin

Australian History lesson thus began.

The museum's strange symbol. It looked like a roler coaster rail from far.

In front of the new parliament house with my fellow Canberran ex-Taylorians.

By the way Shern Ren (in yellow jumper) why you looked so ............... interestingly away from the camera??

Here goes the story that Kai Xun told us:

to be continue.....

Bathroom repair -- I DON'T LIKE !!!!

I received a notice few days ago from MUV, telling me that I can't use my bathroom for 5 days due to a 'maintenance procedure'.

And this morning I was greeted by the repair person. He said he was about to make a lot of noice....










Look at the mess I'm in.

No wonder I can't use my bathroom....

Besides the noice, clearly the repair work has screwed up my room. There's dusk everywhere, on my clothes, my cabinet, and the laptop I'm using now.

Perhaps it's a good time to clean up my room after this.

I DON'T WANT ANYMORE REPAIRS!!!!!

Last day of first term!!!

I hope the change of template has made my blog look less dead

Today is the last day of term 1 of my second semester. To look at it in a better way, it's the start of our two-week holiday.

I'm going Camberra in about a week time. It's gonna be enjoyable and I'll get to meet some of my old Taylor's college friends. Really look forward to that.

However, thanks to all the assignments, a significant part of my hols will be spent on uni work. Sigh.... (like as usual)

Today's actually the birthday of Macquarie Uni (they call it "Conception Day"). Too bad I forgot to get myself a ticket yesterday so I don't get to enter their party. Doesn't matter anyway I don't think I'll enjoy all the noices and parties and unlimited beers.

Me like peace and silence and the friendly chat I had with two fellow actuarial students just now. It's always nice to get to know people.

Holiday is coming again!!!!!

But sadly we have math assignment to worry about. The due date has been postponed to the first Wednesday of our holiday due to some technical breakdown of the uni website.

Anyway, we are going Camberra which is something to look forward to.

Econs test is on Thursday so I need to study, study, study again.

Oh I'm having a mental block now.What shall I write???

By the way my Tesl housemate Harvin has got 2 more months in Australia. Recently I talked frequently with her about her plans for her future. Apparently she has a considerable savings here which can be converted into a large pool of Malaysian Ringgit, if she wants to. That day I was telling her about investing her money in term deposit, how to spread the risk etc.

That is the good thing about earning in Aussie dollar. You take back a small amount but after visitng the money changer the amount will triple out of a sudden. Hahaha

STUDY STUDY STUDY

MATH 133 test tomorrow...........

It's week 6 already....this implies that half a semester has gone. Time goes and passes it's a new month again. September 2007.

We are all being tied up with uni work. No one is silly enough nowadays to suggest a hang-out at the city (something that we did often early this year).

I've just taken up tutoring - not because of the money but rather to gain some experience to boost my chance of getting a high-pay tutoring position next year or so.

I've decided to stay put at MUV although they have increased the rent again next year (it sucks, but what to do). I prefer to stay on-campus to save time. Imagine those people staying few kilometres away from campus. I'm sure they spend at least 5 dollars everyday on transport. I'd rather stick to MUV.

(such a boring post, rite?)