Lee n Tan

Monday 9th Mar

Flight was great we didn’t sleep at all but watch 2 movies – Slumdog Millionaire & The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. 2 very good movies we highly recommend.
We arrived into Singapore @ 9.30pm local time and eventually worked out where we needed to go to catch the train to get to our accommodation.
When we hopped off the train and started getting closer to our destination both of us started to wonder what sort of area we had booked………there were girls on the street everywhere. We had booked into the red-light district of Singapore. We should have clicked when Lee booked our hotel appropriately named ‘Happy Hotel’!!!!!!
Actually all in all not too bad nothing like Patpong road in Thailand, just lots of girls standing on street corners. The room was reasonably clean except the sheet looked like it had had some happy times before us, so my M&D’s xmas present came in very handy….cotton sleeping bag liners that also cover the pillow.

What a start to our trip!!!

Tuesday 10th Mar – Day 1
Spent the day getting to know our way around the MRT train system, also founds ourselves some new digs in Little India for tomorrow night and Lee played his first games (3 back to back) of Underwater Hockey away.
The UWH crowd were great, very friendly although Lee did make a bit of an impact on their games!! Joey who Lee had made contact with prior to the trip was very helpful with hints & tips on where to go in Singapore. Afterwards they invited us for dinner at a Hawker centre and Greg Bush from Aus offered us a bed at his home…somehow we need to get out of our accom we booked in Little India.
We could not believe it when we were dropped off in Geylang the amount of girls on the streets had quadrupled!!!! When we got into the room Lee hung out the window and took a picture of the girls in the street. All the pimps saw the flash & where pointing up at us and getting their mobiles out, needless to say we shut the window very quickly & pulled the blinds. It was an anxious wait but nobody came tapping on the door.

By Tan

Wednesday 4th Mar to Monday 9th Mar

When we arrived Chris picked us up in his snazy new Westpac bubble….he just loves it! Then we went to dinner at a local Malaysian restaurant (just to get us in the swing of things). It was beautiful.
We kept to ourselves for the first couple of days and Chris & Thomas were working.
Friday we went ‘cultural’ and visited the Museum of Victoria in the city and had lunch @ Southgate. Then caught up with Chris and went to the Car Show that was on. Lee had got in touch with one of his old NZ friends – Nicky Davidson so the 3 of us caught up with her and her boyfriend, Brett for drinks at the Irish pub in Chapel street and then dinner @ a thai restaurant. Great night had by all! Nicky got the shock of her life when she saw Lee’s beard!!
Sunday was spent down on Brighton beach having take away and enjoying the Melbourne sun!
Monday we re-packed our packs (still shedding stuff) and had brunch with Chris in Balaclava then we set off for the airport for the big trip!

by Tan

Monday 23rd Feb to Wednesday 4th Mar

Our trip to Tassie was great (my point of view anyway!). We spent a lot of time with M&D and also Paul & his family (Nicky, Ethan & Emily).
For the most part we stayed with M&D but on Thursday we went down to my cousins for the night. Dean, Michelle & Ollie have a wonderful little pad on the river north of Launceston.
Tuesday’s mum looks after Emily so Lee & I got to spend a lot of time with my little niece, then on Friday she looks after both Emily & Ethan.
Saturday we caught up with one of my olds friends from school (Jannine) and her daughter. It was great to catch up her and to see her daughter. The day was gorgeous so we met in City Park. The afternoon was spent at Paul’s digging holes for a retaining wall for their new extensions. Then dinner at the Riverside pub with M&D.
Sunday we had a family BBQ @ M&D’s. Nan, Judy, Gill and the rest of my family came I think we all had a wonderful afternoon eating and catching up.
The next couple of days were spent finalising bits & pieces. Mum cooked an awesome Lamb Roast…the last one we will have for a while!!
Wednesday came around very fast but we packed more into it than any other day. I caught up with a couple of my aunties (Deborah & Alison) & my Grandma. Then we had lunch with Jude, Paul, Nicky, Ethan, Emily & mum down at the Seaport in Launceston. A few hours with Dad & Kelvin at the Wharehouse and then off to the airport to fly to Melbourne.
It was a very teary day!!

By Tan

Tuesday 26th Jan to Friday 6th Feb & Monday 9th Feb to Monday 23rd Feb

Our time in Cessnock was pretty busy – storing all our furniture up on a mezzanine floor in the warehouse of the shop, building walls for the new tile section and trips to Newcastle & Sydney to look around at what other tile retailers/suppliers.
Our first week (before our Goldie weekend) was bloody hot and the after that all it did was rain and it was quite cold. So we went from one extreme to another.
Our last Friday night in Cessnock we lashed out and went to ‘The Cessnock Hotel’ to watch a couple of Super 14 matches, drink lots and play pool! What a night with the locals…..we must have seen the ugliest woman alive, words cannot describe. Then when she hit the dance floor with her gay friend it just got worse!!!!
I ended the night in a shopping trolley for my trip home…..
On Saturday we went out for Dinner with Lee’s M&D to the new local Indian restaurant…..very nice!
Sunday we went for a drive to the lookout over Cessnock and had lunch at one of the wineries.
The hardest part of this leg of the trip is we needed to scale down and pack our backpacks……not an easy task!
Then off to the train station on Monday to catch the train to Sydney for our flight to Tassie.

by Tan