Helloooooooo world.
Is anyone still out there? 😛
2 weeks later, and we’re back from our trip to Australia. Much thanks again to Microsoft for sponsoring the whole shebang – you are awesome. And so we had a GLORIOUS sun-drenched holiday in Australia’s hot summer, joy!!!!!! It was unimaginably blissful to escape Shanghai’s unbearably cold winter and rain, and bask in Sydney’s beautiful weather.
It was a whirlwind of a trip though – hence why I had zero time to blog. I had to work (urgh) every single night, despite technically being on annual leave/holiday. And during the day, it was a total blitz of:
1) Shopping – gotta buy anything and everything I couldn’t get my hands on whilst in China. I hardly shop in actual stores in China, the styles don’t appeal to me.
2) Eating – we had a VERY jammed itinerary that documented every meal, so we could ensure we went to all our fave places that we miss so much.
3) Celebrating Dad’s 60th birthday – right smack on New Years Eve too! HELLOOOOO Tetsuya’s.
4) Catching up with friends – both in small groups and big groups. It was wonderful to see all my partners-in-crime again! I miss ’em all terribly. Made me so happy to see them 🙂
5) Hitting the beaches – well duh, we’re in Sydney! Oh glorious sand and sun.
6) Alec & Christine’s wedding – last but not least, our dear friends’ wedding. Of which I was a (fairly disastrous) emcee AND wedding coordinator – more about that in a later post.
Whew.
And so I have about a billion (give or take a few) photos to trawl through, thus here are a few random highlights that excited the socks off me during our first few days in Australia….
At Manly Beach’s pedestrian mall – I love this place.
MAGAZINES IN ENGLISH!!! OH THE LUXURY!!!!!
Straight to one of my fave stores – Peter Alexander
Some of my fave brands having a shopping-bag-orgy together
More purchases! Oh shopping – how much I’ve missed you.
And yet another round of shopping 😛
Look what I found in the train station!
McDonalds “Angus Beef” burger – been dying to try this. It was AMAZING.
Let me also tell ya – I fell into depression at the airport when we had to leave Australia back to China 🙁 I miss it so much it makes my insides feel all funny when I stop and think about it. Yet, Australia is part of our past now. We will not return for many, many, many years. And for all its maddening antics, I do like China and it has a great number of benefits over Australia. And so for now, life is all about looking forward and (trying hard to) not look backwards.
Anyway, onward ho with the rest of the Australia posts… coming right up!
Huzzah for being able to catch a bit of Sydney in the summer!
I’m glad that you were able to shop up a storm while you were here 🙂
Sydney summer is just awesome.. oh how i’ve missed it!
Huzzah for being able to catch a bit of Sydney in the summer!
I’m glad that you were able to shop up a storm while you were here 🙂
Sydney summer is just awesome.. oh how i’ve missed it!
lol McDonald’s burgers look better in other countries than in our own… they are nasty here in Cali.
Oh ours are shoddy too.. it’s only this Angus beef one that looks nice with mixed gourmet lettuce and a nice bun! 😛
Glad to see you updating again, Bev! And Happy New Year to you and Chris!
I miss Sydney too. Might be heading there (after leaving the place 10 long years ago!) during Easter if we happen to come across cheap fares. The prices of everything there will definitely shock us though 😛
Ohhh lucky, I’m envious! I wish flights there were cheaper though, along with everything else 😛
gawd! i miss aust! the food and the shopping! =(
Glad you had a fab trip back!! =)
It was seriously GOOD to be back home… 1 year is way too long!
Yeah we had to be super organised cos we had SO much to fit in.. bummer we couldn’t be there for a month!
we wanna see loots pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! =)
I’m gonna post it later but toooo much stuff I bought so, erm, will just take pics of a few!
“a few”??!?!?!?! whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
me, too! None of the clothes in China appeal to me either, so now I’m like a fiend when I’m outside of the country when it comes to shopping. Even for something stupid like socks and bras.
I’m with you, it’s weird how some stuff I just can’t find (in my style) in china!
That looks like an amazing burger actually. I hope they have it in Canberra! I am going to try searching for that. :p
And, thanks for reminding that life is all about looking forward, and not looking backwards! 🙂 Really do need to remind myself of that!
Hopefully it’s AU wide 🙂 It’s fantastic! So beefy and the bun is great.
lol McDonald’s burgers look better in other countries than in our own… they are nasty here in Cali.
Oh ours are shoddy too.. it’s only this Angus beef one that looks nice with mixed gourmet lettuce and a nice bun! 😛
Glad to see you updating again, Bev! And Happy New Year to you and Chris!
I miss Sydney too. Might be heading there (after leaving the place 10 long years ago!) during Easter if we happen to come across cheap fares. The prices of everything there will definitely shock us though 😛
Ohhh lucky, I’m envious! I wish flights there were cheaper though, along with everything else 😛
gawd! i miss aust! the food and the shopping! =(
Glad you had a fab trip back!! =)
It was seriously GOOD to be back home… 1 year is way too long!
How come you wont come back for such long time?
cos we’re living in China for now
I know how you feel. I also have a very special feeling for sydney, it was place where I met my boyfriend 7.5 years ago. 🙂 We hope one day we will be able to go back there again!
One day we will move back to Sydney, that’s for sure. But until then, we still have many other countries we wanna ‘conquer’ 😛
Yeah we had to be super organised cos we had SO much to fit in.. bummer we couldn’t be there for a month!
we wanna see loots pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! =)
I’m gonna post it later but toooo much stuff I bought so, erm, will just take pics of a few!
“a few”??!?!?!?! whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
me, too! None of the clothes in China appeal to me either, so now I’m like a fiend when I’m outside of the country when it comes to shopping. Even for something stupid like socks and bras.
I’m with you, it’s weird how some stuff I just can’t find (in my style) in china!
Aww glad you had a great time in Sydney.
I tried the Angus burger myself but I didn’t like it much. And I love my beef!
Cute dresses btw but I think your bag’s print clashes with your floral dress a bit (kinda busy).
Ohhh you didn’t like it? I adored it, better than their regular burgers IMHO
Hah, I was on holiday so of course didn’t bring my entire bag wardrobe to pair it perfectly with all my outfits (nor do I actually care about being matchy-match even back home – to me, a luxury bag is one that you can throw on and pull it off without being a fashion victim and pairing it perfectly!)
i’ll second that…. just like a normal burger but a little fattier… still craving a rockpool full-blood wagyu
You were a fab emcee 🙂
Fortunately people don’t really remember emcee speeches that much nor people’s mistakes, it’s only the person involved that remembers it clearly, lol!
Aww…looks fun. Can’t wait until I see your purchases with more detail. How long do you think you will stay in China? How long are your contracts?
Not sure, but it’s indefinite for as long as we want.. will likely be until we decide to have kids though
That looks like an amazing burger actually. I hope they have it in Canberra! I am going to try searching for that. :p
And, thanks for reminding that life is all about looking forward, and not looking backwards! 🙂 Really do need to remind myself of that!
Hopefully it’s AU wide 🙂 It’s fantastic! So beefy and the bun is great.
How come you wont come back for such long time?
cos we’re living in China for now
I know how you feel. I also have a very special feeling for sydney, it was place where I met my boyfriend 7.5 years ago. 🙂 We hope one day we will be able to go back there again!
One day we will move back to Sydney, that’s for sure. But until then, we still have many other countries we wanna ‘conquer’ 😛
Aww glad you had a great time in Sydney.
I tried the Angus burger myself but I didn’t like it much. And I love my beef!
Cute dresses btw but I think your bag’s print clashes with your floral dress a bit (kinda busy).
Ohhh you didn’t like it? I adored it, better than their regular burgers IMHO
Hah, I was on holiday so of course didn’t bring my entire bag wardrobe to pair it perfectly with all my outfits (nor do I actually care about being matchy-match even back home – to me, a luxury bag is one that you can throw on and pull it off without being a fashion victim and pairing it perfectly!)
i’ll second that…. just like a normal burger but a little fattier… still craving a rockpool full-blood wagyu
You were a fab emcee 🙂
Fortunately people don’t really remember emcee speeches that much nor people’s mistakes, it’s only the person involved that remembers it clearly, lol!
Aww…looks fun. Can’t wait until I see your purchases with more detail. How long do you think you will stay in China? How long are your contracts?
Not sure, but it’s indefinite for as long as we want.. will likely be until we decide to have kids though