Tuen's Blog

The Toyotal Prado was collected about 2 weeks ago, and I’ve been pretty satisfied with it. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time learning about off road driving and collecting information about the tours that can be done in Victoria. I’ve bought some navigation software as well as topo maps of Victoria for this purpose. Looking forward to our first proper off road trip.
In the meantime, there’s a trip planned to Adelaide and Kangaroo Island, where we can put the Prado through some dirt roads.

Due to the time spent on this new interest, this blog hasn’t been updated much. I’ll try to post some updates especially regarding James and Jill’s wedding which took place about two weeks ago.

I’ve been considering getting a four wheel drive vehicle for quite some time now; with a view to eventually going off road and to places in Victoria and other states where normal vehicles would not be able to go. Well, last Saturday, Tony decided to go test drive a BMW X5, which is a sort of ’soft roader’. It’s a 4 wheel drive, but is not meant for very rough terrain or climbing boulders and crossing rivers, but good enough for some off road driving and for pulling say a camper trailer or caravan. After the test drive, he decided to buy it. We were there together with them when the decision and purchase was made, and that sort of ‘inspired’ me to test drive the Prado. I’d test driven the X5 with my cousin, and even joked about buying one as well; but was met with a very interesting comment from him. Basically (insultingly) he felt that an X5 would be wasted on me because I could not appreciate the finer points of driving a superior car. To me, a car was a means of transportation, and I wasn’t too concerned about the ‘driving experience’. Well, he was right that to me a car was just a means of transportation. But a 4WD car was a slightly different proposition. It’s like my motorbike to me. The bike is not just a means of transport, like a car, but a vehicle on which I could enjoy riding on 2 wheels (or 3 in my case). So too, the 4WD would be a vehicle which I would enjoy driving off road. And that is the main reason why I decided to test drive the Prado instead of the X5. The Prado is a true off road machine, capable of tackling steep climbs and rough terrain and even some river crossings.

Well, the next day, we went to test drive the Prado (a 2nd hand model), and Tony came along as well. And just like him, we decided to purchase it. I am now waiting for delivery.

I’ve been spending the past few days reading up on 4w driving and looking up clubs which I could join. I shall be attending some of the club meetings and see where we go from there.

We could never have done this in Singapore…

Rachael and Tassia came up with Wen and Connie to spend about a week here in Melbourne, and stayed with us. The first and only hitch they experienced was that their luggage did not reach the airport with them. Due to some problems, the airline had to deliver the luggage to us about 10.30pm in the night, about 15 hours after they arrived.

I think the girls had a good time here, and we were very happy to host them. They were out with Wen and Connie most of the time and so had very little impact at home. Most of the meals they ate out, so Mary didn’t even have to cook extra. If I’m not mistaken, they spent a lot of time shopping and sightseeing. They went to the beach and also went strawberry picking at Sunny Ridge.

We all had a nice dinner at Gerard and Marie’s home, who are Rachael’s Uncle and Aunt, and we even managed to organise a badminton game with them.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any photos I can post here, as I didn’t take any, but the girls have got lots, and have posted them on their respective facebook sites. Alas, I am not their ‘friend’ and have even been explicitly ‘unfriended’ by Wen because she felt I was ’stalking’ her! 

On the last evening, we had a special farewell dinner for the girls at a Japanese restaurant called Sakaru in Spring.  A short video below shows some of the ‘antics’ we got up to.

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We arrived in Singapore on the evening of 15th Dec and as usual, stayed at my parents’ place. Unlike in January when we were here, this time around, we had a much less hectic schedule. We spent a lot of time with my parents and simply relaxed at home. We spent a bit of time with the cult of course, and visited some relatives, but mostly, I did not even announce our visit to Singapore. I even had time to complete the Bali holiday video whilst in Singapore.

We had the usual Christmas gathering where most of the relatives came over to my parents’ place. Other memorable events included a gathering of our former home catechism group, organised by Jobina at her home; a cult visit to St. James’s power station for a pub experience, where Stephen Chua celebrated his ‘birthday’; and a lunch with my Godparents whom I hadn’t seen for a couple of years.

The cult also paid a visit to Francis’ niche where we said some prayers for him.

After two short weeks, we left for home on 30th Dec and arrived on New Year’s eve.  It was good to be back.  But we left behind our two daughters. The boys of course, were already home, since they didn’t join us on the Singapore leg of the holiday. Melissa is still in Singapore as I write this, and is due back at the end of the month. Wen was originally due to come back around this time, but left a few days after us because Rachael and Tassia were going to come back with us to spend a week here, and of course Wen was going to look after them. More on their visit in a later post.

Some photos of the Singapore visit can be found here.

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The Bali holiday was really good and refreshing, and it was wonderful to catch up with relatives whom we had not met for a while.

The first 4 days of Bali was spent with the Chongs. Since we were coming from Australia and the rest of the clan were coming from Singapore, we felt that since we were going to travel such a long distance, we might as well spend a few more days in Bali, rather than just the 4 official clan reunion days. So the Chongs and us stayed at a place called Villa Alumbrera in Canggu. We had a very good time there, especially the kids, who had their own villa where they could party all they want and leave us ‘oldies’ in peace. We had a staff of several waiters and cooks to look after our needs, and they prepared most of the meals for us. For Aussies, this was a real pampering that we don’t normally get at home.

On the 4th day we checked out of Villa Alumbrera and moved into Hard Rock Hotel. The clan gathering was also very enjoyable and activities included White water rafting, surfing, pool games, shopping, gambling and a Karaoke competition. We stayed for 4 nights there and had a grand time. This gathering was made possible thanks to the sponsorship of a rich relative; Bernard. Bernard has been living and working in the UK for many years, and this gathering was an idea mooted by him and Adeline, another relative of ours.

We left for Singapore on 15th Dec to start the next phase of our holiday.

Photos of Bali can be found here.

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I am typing this post whilst flying over the Indian Ocean, on a Virgin Airlines flight. It’s the 8th of December. We are on our way to Bali for a family holiday, with members of our clan. All in, there should be about 50 of us attending I think. We shall be in Bali for about a week, and since from Bali to Singapore it’s such a short hop, we decided to spend about two weeks in Singapore after that. The three boys won’t be flying to Singapore, but will fly directly back to Melbourne, together with Al. And our two girls will be extending their stay in Singapore for a further two and four week period respectively. Looking forward to Bali and Singapore…

On Sunday, we attended St. Kevin’s presentation night. And for the first time since our kids started attending St. Kevin’s, we had something to look forward to at the presentation night. Ming had been awarded a certificate of academic excellence, which meant that he was amongst the top 10 percent of all students in his level. We had actually been hoping for him to be the dux of his class, but he was beaten to that by his classmate mainly, we think, because he did not do as well for physical education.

On the afternoon of the presentation day, Ming had to attend a rehearsal and I sent him down on my motorbike, which was the most convenient means of transport considering the timing and the location. After dropping him off, I even managed to contribute about $20 to Crown casino, which was nearby.

We’ve told Ming to aim for dux next year. Let’s hope he can improve his physical fitness and attain that!

Oh, this post is being composed on our flight to Bali. I shall submit this when I can get an internet connection.

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Last week, we had dinner with Jobina and two of her kids. Jobina and Lawrence and family were part of our kids’ home catechism group back in Singapore. We had seen Jobina only briefly in church when we were back in Singapore at the beginning of this year; otherwise we had not seen their family since our arrival in Melbourne.

It was lovely to see them again and to see how Joey and Joel have grown. We went to a restaurant in the city called Little King Eatery. The food wasn’t bad at all. We caught up with old times and made arrangements to meet up in Singapore at the end of the year.  Jobina and kids have since returned to Singapore.

Yesterday was my mum’s birthday, and my dad asked us to go out and have dinner on him, to celebrate. So we went to Sakata for some Japanese food. Melissa’s friend, Kai, came along as well, because they were going to go out clubbing with friends after that.

Anyway, we decided to record a video birthday wish for my mum, and here it is:

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On Monday, Ren’s playschool organised a visit to Chesterfield farm, a small farm not far from where we live. I think they cater specially to tourists and kids.

This is not the first time we brought Ren to a farm. The first time was when we visited the Lims in New Zealand, and Jean brought us to a farm which was quite a bit larger than Chesterfield.

Anyway, Ren had a good time with his schoolmates and because this was not his first time, he had no fear at all in approaching the animals to feed them.

There was also a short and interesting farm show, and it was the first time we saw a sheepdog in action rounding up sheep. It was really fascinating!

Some photos here. Video below:

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