Workxcursion

Aaaand it's about time we have an update. I realized that for a while now, every time someone logs on to my blog, first thing they would see was my lament about my ringworm infection - with a picture to boot.

First off, a quick plug to my friend Mark (known in some circles as Quin's hubby-to-be) who's finally put together his long-overdue food blog. He's still brimming with the keenness and enthusiasm of a virgin blogger (4 entries in like less than 2 days); so head over and show some love - esp if you fancy an off-the-wall recipe that one may or may not afford to make.

...

I've been busy with work myself, which explains my absence lately. And after back-to-back 6-day (often double) shifts, we finally have the weekend off! (/^ ^)/ A long weekend at that, cos Monday's job was canceled ahohoho.

But I won't bore you with the details. Instead, let me walk you through a series of photos summarizing my last couple of weeks; featuring 2 travel jobs, several fooding hunts, and one epicly drunken night. Or maybe not that last bit.

First off, CEXP Northern Run! (babelfish says: Coles Express gas stations across Kimberly region of WA i.e. Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and Kunnunura in that order). As most of these are already up on Facebook, I'm just going to select a few worthy for a re-post.


:: Such as this! ::

They say the third time's the charm, and it can't ring any truer for this trip. I may have complained about it to some of you prior to departure, but much to my relief there were NO IRRADIATED MAN-EATING BUGS WAITING TO BITE MY FACE OFF T____T Then we had a good troop ensuring much fun and food flexibility (that means being able to split 50/50 booze-chow fund); and I supposed more importantly, we had relevant biggies from the client's side to make sure there's no mucking about on the store manager's side. So the jobs went relatively smoothly.


:: The vast expanse of flat, empty plains and bright skies ::


:: As we had long hours of drive from one town to another, usually with little to no towns in between, public toilets were sparse and often unimpressive - such as the above ::


:: ... WHICH HOUSES THIS! A BLOODY HOLE IN THE GROUND! Mind you, it's a disabled-friendly hole in the ground::


:: And small, cramped, dodgy looking rooms where we had to share in twos. I'd imagine Mitch and Paul got a bit cozy that night, since the bed was just about right for Felicia and myself ::


:: But we weren't short on good, hearty food though. :) Pictured here, falling-off-bone tender lamb shank, on a bed of creamy mash from Fitzroy River Lodge ::

And then in Kununnura, we had the pleasure of revisiting the Pumphouse Restaurant & Bar
which was quite literally a foodie oasis in the middle of a dry, relic nowhere. It is situated along the Ord River, and has one of the most spectacular sunset views I've seen.

Unfortunately, we missed it this time around. Partly because it's still winter I supposed, so the sun set a lot earlier; and we were feeling lazy from the drive.

Also last time we were there, it was Woodfire Pizza Tuesday* which was kinda what we were going for this visit (because it amounted to quite a cheap bill). But we were there on a Friday, and there were no specials apart from their perpetually $5 Crown Lager wooooaaaahhhh I'd forgotten about that up till then.

But it was a blessing in disguise, as we soon discovered.


:: Which all 3 of them ordered cos they're unadventurous like that. I didn't try the pork as I was busy scoffing down my dinner, but they raved about how spectacular it was, grilled to absolute perfection. I stole a mushroom however; and it (mushroom + sauce) was divine ::


:: But I much prefer my perfectly grilled, succulent, tender-in-the-middle tuna steak. And it was paired superbly with ratatouille and a delicate white port reduction. And the potato gnocchi made up for good starch since it wasn't the biggest meal. But never have I had Such. Perfectly. Cooked. Fish. I would go back to Kununnura just for another piece of this ::


:: And really, that's just too cute ::

For the rest of the night, I think the pictures speak for themselves.


:: Because it was on special. And also cos it wasn't half bad ::


:: Shang Tsung watches you ::








:: Whilst stumbling our way to the BP across the road to get midnight munchies. Thank goodness for 24-hour servos serving hot chicken chips that were wicked yum ::


:: A tribute to our boss man, whom we're always thinking of no matter where we are. Loved, much? ::




:: Goodnight, folks. ::

...

Part 2: CEXP Albany

Which really was just an overnight job for Mitch and myself. The drive took 5 hours plus each way, so we had little time for anything else apart from a decent dinner and of course, work in the morning.

Nothing out of the ordinary occurred throughout the 2 days, except maybe for the lady at the reception who appeared to not know what a debit card is wtf. She asked us to show the credit card that the room was booked under, which we couldn't because our boss did the booking online and usually (i.e. every other time), they never ask for it. So then she said, any credit cards, just for security deposit purposes; and Mitch asked her if his debit card was okay, and she asked, "Does it have credit on it?"

Wtf? Did she mean whether he had money in his account? Cos really it just sounded like she had no idea that a debit Mastercard, as the ads claim, does everything a Mastercard can do, but with one's own money.

Meh. So in the end, we had to fork out a $250 cash deposit up front, which of course, had to be withdrawn from a petrol station across the road cos they didn't bloody have an ATM on the premise. Bodohs. -_- Got charged $4 bank fees sommore, wth. Shame on you, Banksia Gardens. Call yourself a fancy schmancy place.

...

But at least their food was decent, although Mitch's prawns from his Surf n Turf were suspected of being the cause of a bit of tummy rumble over the night.

And mine was just stupidly small.


:: Even though I had an entree, which I had to admit was pretty damn good. Could have done with more cheese though, it looked like it was just dotted with mozzarella. And perhaps a bit more seasoning as well to fully bring out the flavour of the Portobello ::


:: On the other hand, well-seasoned baby squid, perhaps could have done with a few extra seconds on the grill, and tossed over a crisp Greek salad. But goddammit this doesn't pass off as a main! ::

I left that night, feeling half-empty and half-disappointed. Fortunately the possibly-undercooked squid didn't backfire on me. I was bracing for stomach bug at best, salmonella at worst, but really I was just ... hungry, for the rest of the night.

Then again, when am I ever not hungry, eh? As we speak I'm sipping on Frozen Coke Float, which I reckon is one of the most ingenious McD's "Pairing of Two Things to become a New Item!" since Orange McFizz. Shame they took that off the menu back home. :(


xx
Hsin

Traveling Blues

Oh mai, only less than a month and I'm already reduced to updating once a week. -.-

I'm sorry. It will be more frequent in the upcoming weeks. Have a lot under (in?) my sleeves at the moment, and plans are being put in motion! For now I will not say anything as to not jinx it, but I'm allowing myself to feel just a bit excited. Wish me luck for this mystery endeavour!

In the meantime, I've been kept busy with lots of work and traveling for work. It's good money, but I think I'm starting to feel a little burned out from doing the same thing over and over again, and then there's the petty office politics that I sense myself inevitably getting dragged in. All because some people deem themselves more worthy of getting certain jobs than other lesser beings. =.=

But let's not get into that.

I used to love traveling. I loved every bit of it, even the packing and the long flights and the questionable hotel food. I had no complains about plans spanning out of schedule, or things going awry. I was simply happy being in a different place from home, and everything else was secondary.

For a long time, I could never fathom how grownups could complain about traveling, business or otherwise. Surely they've gotta love the buffet brekkies in the morning, the complementary tea and coffee in the room, the bubble baths, and the incredible beds to jump on without getting into trouble. Then to hear how they never took the opportunity to sight see or buy souvenir fridge magnets - preposterous!

Then there's me in the present, traveling, well, to regional towns in WA, and all I can think about is how much I wish I was home instead. Admittedly, some of these towns were not the greatest, but there were times when I've had the opportunity to visit places where others would have to pay a lot of money for. And... I was simply not all that interested.

If left to my own device, I don't want to go sightseeing. I don't want to take photos. I most definitely do not want to buy little fridge magnet souvenirs. I just want to work, eat, get paid, and leave (although the food bit still excites me a little, depending on where I am).

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate being given the travel opportunities, and I know how some people would do anything short of murder(ing me) to go in my place. I simply do not see the huge fuss in yet another nondescript motel and yet another staple pub food menu.

I think I need a proper holiday. From work and responsibilities and worrying about finances. =/ Any takers?


Moody,
Hsin

Banana & Mangoes

Phone camera photography 101:

Do not expect photos to turn out great. In fact, don't even expect photos to turn out moderately decent in quality unless you have one of those fancy schmancy camera phones (I was told Sony Ericsson does good piccies).

What it does, however, is capture the moment through grainy shots because you don't happen to have a more superior instrument with you; or in my case, failed to charge the battery ahead of time. -.-

Not my fault entirely. I didn't expect to be sightseeing in Carnarvon. In fact the only reason we did really was because the job went a lot smoother than anticipated, and we ended up with 5 odd hours to kill while waiting for our flight home.


Our plane.

Note to Diana (and Danson, when he eventually reads this): The flight to Carnarvon was only a fraction of the hell we went through the last time. I only felt sick for a little while, which was a vast improvement . ^^ And the flight home was surprisingly smooth, although I did take precautions to not stuff myself with big breakfast prior to take off. :P

Anyway like I said, sightseeing wasn't part of the plan, so we weren't equipped with maps or GPS or information. After killing as much time as we possibly could on lunch and window shopping, we only managed to pass like an hour tops. T.T Clearly there wasn't much to eat and window-shop for.

So fine, we set off to hunt for attractions and photo opportunities, driving as slow as road courtesy allows us to, and here are some pics to document our efforts:



The pretty coastal side of Carnarvon



Someone once told me that the Aboriginese believe that the trees are 'bowing' to a greater spirit.



Best mango smoothie, ever. And possibly the best battered scallop too.

Scallop was "Chinese Restaurant Grade", i.e. fat and juicy morsels which are so fresh that you could peel it off strand by strand. Not the tiny battered-heavy ones you get at most chippies over here. I'd almost forgotten the real taste and wholesome flavour of scallops until 2 days ago. And I was happy that Mitch had a scallop education himself - I could see it in his face, even though all he did was nod and half-shrugged.



Here in Carnarvon, they are extremely proud of their people's achievements.

And I say that with no hint of cynicism; I honestly think we could do with a bit more community spirit in our lives sometimes. :)


We also set out to hunt for the hilariously named (and for some reason, terribly elusive) 'Chinaman Pool'. I think we both had our own lame and possibly-racist imaginings of what this pool could be. And we figured that maybe at the very least we would find some mini museum or something to kill some time with.




Unfortunately, we were quite wrong.



It was a river bed. Mitchy wanted to go walk along the plains but I wasn't too keen. The hot weather was a huge factor; that and I didn't want to encounter any snakes or biting creatures that may be living in those bushes. -.-

So we moved on, disappointed that it was not in fact a Chinaman-shaped pool.


Google image search result for 'man-shaped pool'


Next we came across what was possibly our most interesting discovery of them all: The Carnarvon Heritage Trail!

Dotted with steam-powered trains and tractors from simpler days, it also housed the One Mile jetty, the beach and an observation tower which sufficed my photographic needs. And with that, I leave you with a couple more scenic shots of Bananacity. Taa.
















xx
Hsin

Back (from hiatus and Kalgoorlie)

Oh my goodness, look who started blogging again.

Who knows how long I'm going to sustain this one, but I do miss writing sometimes. Mostly when I'm traveling through the middle of nowhere, which for some reason is when I start having lots of thoughts about everything. It's just a bit strange.

Plus, I made a promise to some friends to resume blogging as soon as my new laptop arrives - and it has - so here I am!

Hello you pretty thing

Btw, reason for my shift to a brand new site, because I want to pretend the previous abandonment never took place. -.-

Bear with me while I rediscover my writing style. I think I need a bit of warming up to this after so long. It's been a while since I wrote anything that isn't an email, job application, or a 140-character feed.

Anyway a quick round-up of my year so far:

We've moved out from our shared house to our own complex unit near the city. It is a cosy little thing in a lovely neighbourhood near the city, and we have a view of the doggie park across the road, much to Mitchy's delight.

I'm still only working part time, but I've had plenty more regional travel opportunities lately. In fact we've just gotten back from Kalgoorlie which is a miner town about an hour flight away from Perth. Not a bad place (except for some of the seedy miner men), and the food there was shockingly good.


I found one of the best and most authentic Thai food over there, where the cook/owner was this tiny Thai elderly lady who believes in making everything from scratch. We had something called Jungle Curry, which was essentially a whole lot of herbs, spices and greens thrown together and cooked with either chicken or beef. And I think because we ordered Extra Hot, she came out to check on us to make sure we haven't burned a hole through our guts.

She was mightily impressed that we polished them all off. She proceeded to ask where I was from, and when she heard I was Malaysian, she took me as a kindred spirit and started brandishing me with stories of her life and even a free dessert of my choice. At the same time, she was following her big, dopey-looking waiter around the restaurant, telling him off for being slow and incompetent. T.T I felt so sorry for him!


We also drove to Leonora, which is a small town about 230kms away from Kalgoorlie. Not the greatest drive since it was mostly a straight road across dirt and wide open spaces of nothing. But we did pass the town of Menzies, which had this pump station slash roadside attraction:

Next week we fly to Carnarvon. The last time we were there, Diana and Danson had a stomach-content-regurgitating experience on our flight back. It was a small plane propelled by equally small engines and, well, propellers. -.-


On top of that, I'm also doing a bit of writing for Oxfam Australia at the moment. It's a cushy, borderline copy-pasting job, but I'll like to think it's a small baby-step start for my foray into an industry which continues to reject my applications. It is GREAT. Although to be fair, I've yet to start door-knocking at companies. Hopefully it doesn't follow with door-slamming-into-face too much. Will document the events here when I do eventually. It'll be a riot.

And on that note, Happy Anzac Day to all! And happy long weekend to all non-celebrating non-Aussies residing in the country. Have a beer, or five, and remember to raise your glasses when you do. :)