In Continuation ...

Landed in Melbourne International Airport at 20:30hr yesterday & checked into Medina Grand Melbourne Serviced Apartment. The Studio Apartment is rather small but well equipped with a pantry that comes with a refrigerator, toaster, microwave, utensils; iron & ironing board; a queen size bed; TV set; wardrobe; study table; dining table & bathroom. Also a common washing machine & dryer outside my room in a common area where I can do my laundry... Took some photos of my room - it's for your viewing at "My Photos".

Finally called it a day at 1:30am after unpacking... it's time to ZzzzzzzzzzzZZZZzz


Date: 18 Dec 2004
Time: 20:35hr (MEL local time)

It's summer here in Melbourne & the sky was bright as early as 05:30hr!! Yet it did not disturb my slumber... Woke up at 0830hr (which is your local time 0530hr) thinking to myself: "you guys are still in bed - how lucky..." Anyway, left my apartment @ 1010hr to check out the gym, sauna & swimming pool before walking to the City Center.

The apartment is only 2 streets away from the Bourke Street Mall - the city's largest shopping paradise! And across the apartment there is a supermarket; Gloria Jean's Coffee & Starbucks!! How convenient!!! Went to check out Starbucks - no! not for the latte - but to see if they have wireless connection (like those in Singapore?) so I could surf the internet for free! It's very expensive to hook on to broadband or dial-up modem from my apartment... Thank God they have! Yeah!!

My morning expedition continued as I went to Bourke Street to buy my prepay SIM card with Vodafone (cost AUD29.90 with a credit amount of AUD30), called activate the SIM card & had to wait 30mins before it is ready for use. Had my 1st meal in Red Roaster & their fries are so salty - my goodness!! After 30min of rest, it's more walking as I headed uphill towards Queen Victoria Market to stock up food for my room - some apples, cherries, carrots & honey hams from the Victoria Market and fresh milk, mineral water, breakfast cereals, cup noodles, Milo, biscuits & bread from the nearest supermarket. After some 2 hours, I came back to the apartment looking quite tan - the weather today is sunny at 37degrees celsius but quite cooling!

In the room, I tried connecting my laptop wirelessly (to the Starbucks outlet opposite who is using Telstra) hoping to get a signal & be able to log online without having even to bring my laptop there - though it's a good & valid reason for me to buy a cup of latte... hee! Well, I could connect though signal strength is low but somehow still could not access the internet - guess it has to do with some settings... Anyways, will ask my IT colleague about this when I report for work on Monday. So meanwhile, it's Microsoft Word as I draft my blog entries...

Went for a swim at the indoor swimming pool around 4pm. It's quite a small pool - only 2 lanes wide & less than 25m in length... Did a couple of laps & had to leave the pool when 4 Ang Mos came plunging into the pool making it almost impossible for me to swim - it's either the size of the pool or their sizes to blame!

Oh! Did I tell you that the TV program here totally sucks?! Perhaps that is good news for you because I've nothing better to watch so decided to type my blog entry as I munch on almost 500gm of cherries & a carrot... If you think I'm in some kind of diet, the answer is no... I had 2 sandwiches for dinner & these are only desserts!

Although it's almost 2100hr but it's still quite bright outside - something like 5pm in Singapore? So we have super long days & short nights during the summer season in this part of Australia.

Well that's about all for today. Tomorrow is yet another lonely adventure!