Noumea day 1

If there is one word to describe my trip to Noumea, it would be bliss.

Quite literally a trip of my life. Immersion into culture, bonding with my school friends and enjoying the sun pretty much sums it all.

Many people do not know where New Caledonia is. When I try to explain that it's a small French island in the Pacific, near Tahiti and Fiji, many people jump to the conclusion "So basically France?"

Pas exactement- not exactly. How about 17,000 km away from France?

School WITH A VIEW! 

Nouméa is the capital of New Caledonia. Think crystal blue waters, white sand and lovely weather. Locals think that '18 C is cold'. Quite the contrary for us Melburnians. We experience freezing, wet winters! 18 C is lovely. 

The Age also wrote an article about it

Its tourism isn't as well developed as many other well known pacific islands but it really does have the potential. So it was a nice change to see that there weren't too many tourists lurking around. A lot of tourists notably from Japan, New Zealand and Australia. I went on an educational tour with my school via GET, which was quite professionally done! 14 students and two teachers.

The trip to the airport was actually pretty exciting, because we've pretty much all never been on a school overseas trip. The plane ride was only about 3 and a half hours, not too long. I sat with Eric and one of the school teachers. We watched quite a few episodes of Friends (my all time fave show) and by the end of it, we were struggling to keep our eyes open. Actually, I think everyone was quite exhausted despite the short flight because it was a reeeeally long day at the airport and arrived in the evening.

  Yi Shan has a Gopro so she took that everywhere. So handy for group selfies ha ha ha.

There were also several other schools from Australia.

In a later post, I will write about Amedee, an island where we went snorkelling. I would've also loved to see Ile de pins, but we didn't have time to visit there!

We had 3 hour French lessons each day at the language centre, Creipac. They were quite literally some of the best oral lessons I've ever had. Not only was our teacher incredibly encouraging & helpful, she made the activities fun and we all learned from our mistakes. More on my French lessons in a later post.

Anyway, on the first night, we didn't do much because we arrived in the evening. We all had a pretty magnificent burger and a taste of Orangina- the French version of Fanta except that it is less artificial and more bitter..I quite liked it. First night was at the hotel, so us students played cards all night, trying to keep quiet but that really failed. But what do you expect with a bunch of students running wild in a foreign country?

Actually, our definition of 'wild' is playing countless card games........

Next morning, trying to keep our eyes open. 

Outings in Singapore

I'm a Malaysian, yet ironically I've never visited Singapore until now, at sixteen. I flew up to the tiny country (barely a dot on a world map) for five days visiting Aunty M & Uncle D. They were the ones that took my parents and I around in Beijing (and also their family went with our family to California), while they were living as expats. They are so much fun to be with, and they took extremely good care of me :) It was my first time flying by myself. Though it was only an hour flight from KL...

To my surprise, although Singapore is a small place, (going from the east to the west of the island so easily), there is a plethora of activities & sights and eateries to do. The food is great,  from your local hawker stalls to restaurants of all kinds of cuisines. Singapore is cosmopolitan.

Singapore trip will come in THREE parts; outings, eateries in restaurants and local eateries.

So things I did in Singapore....

1) I went to the Singapore zoo and also did the night & river safari. The Singapore zoo itself is huge, you can walk (real workout) or take the tram around. My favourite animal was the leopard and also seeing the splash zone show with the sea lion.  I really liked the Night safari, and also the shows. River safari: my uncle and I would not recommend. Waste of money just to go on a five minute boat ride,and some of the animals were hiding. Though, we saw the Red panda and the giant panda which was cute.

2) Shopping on Orchard Street. Of course you gotta have some shopping therapy! I had so much fun with my aunty shopping along there! I'm regretting not buying more though...

3) Gardens by the bay. The enclosures are extremely nice, obviously the project costed a lot of money but it's impressive. We went to the Cloud forest and the flower dome. I also really liked the cool temp inside, unlike the heat during midday in Singapore.

4) Take pictures with the lion and Marina bay sands hotel. I have yet to visit the actual hotel!!

5) My uncle and I went to Adventure Cove in Sentosa. According to my older cousin, Universal studios isn't really worth the money, and initially I thought so too. So even though I didn't go there, I personally think Adventure Cove would be better. It’s a nice place to spend the day. Our favourite ride was the Riptide Rocket, we rode on it about four times! You can also snorkel at Rainbow reef, which was pretty cool considering I've never gone snorkeling but the water left a nasty salt taste afterwards. My uncle says we could easily spend three days in Sentosa, however my trip was quite short. So next time, there will be more.

6) We went to the Jurong bird park and took the tram around the park to tour. The park isn't very big, so I don’t think you'd need to spend a lot of time. I do recommend seeing Kings of the skies show. I saw some owls, eagles and vultures.

I did quite a fair bit of activities within five days, thanks to my relatives’ planning!

London

I enjoyed London, more than I thought I would. Prior to visiting, I wasn't that excited going to London because I perceived the city as just another English city, some what similar to Melbourne. The only mutual thing between London & Melbourne? The weather is pretty crazy.

Florence & Pisa

We visited the famous Leaning tower of Pisa and Florence! The Leaning tower of Pisa is quite something, and it's something you should definitely see if you're in Italy. It's much more magnificent in person, than depicted in photos. At the same time, I would love to climb up the tower, but I'm sort of scared of heights and the fact that it's tilted? Hmm... Have any of you travellers climbed up the tower?

Then, we visited the beautiful Florence, the capital of the region, Tuscany. Florence is the 'birthplace' of the Renaissance. Driving through Tuscany is picturesque, except maybe perhaps if the sunflowers were blooming rather than dead, it could've been more magnificent. But, nevertheless, it's always been one of my fantasies to drive through Tuscany.

 We didn't actually spend that much time in Florence, so I can't really comment besides that it is a stunning city to visit. I do recommend hitting up the leather markets around, and small little stalls for some shopping! It's a nice city to have a slow, relaxed walk around.

Beautiful church

 Also, I had my first encounter with what I call 'fake pizza'. Not the real Italian pizza, that is out fresh from the wood-fired oven in the evening. We were supposed to have a quick short lunch, so we just went to a cafe where they had pizza. :( I just know that the next time I come back to Italy, I will be having crispy, thin-crust pizza!

Watch out guys!

Didn't get to check this shop out, but it looks pretty awesome.

Another note I wanted to add, that I forgot to write about in my Rome post. You'll be told this about a million times, but beware of pick-pocketers. Honestly, I don't recommend bringing a backpack because I have that fear of someone going behind and taking something without me noticing anything. Just keep your bags (especially you,ladies!) really close to you and ignore any suspicious looking people. Funnily enough, as we were just about to hop on the bus in Rome, there were these two ladies who were carrying cloths, mumbling something to us in Italian. My dad was carrying my mum's fanny pack around his waist, and he only noticed when he got on the bus that his pack's zip was actually open. Thankfully though, he only had a pen visible, and his phone was deep down in the pack. If the pick-pocketers had seen the phone, oh my. It's the same case in Paris as well. We were walking to Lafayette, and on the way, there was this gypsy who started following us from the back. My parents & I held on to our bags really tightly once we saw her, and eventually she stopped. So, keep your eyes glued to your bags everyone!

Roma

Rome is a beautiful city. I've always had the image of Rome, growing up as a child I was inspired by 'Lizzie McGuire'. A romantic city, with the Trevi fountain and beautiful architecture. For one, the architecture did not fail to impress me. Old, ancient buildings that are hundreds, even thousands of years old are still standing. Sculptures, carved to every single detail gives Rome a charm.

Admiring the lovely tall, old doors.

The Colosseum was just as I imagined. Such a stunning, massive structure. Still amazes me that gladiators fought there.

 We went around the Roman forum, which strikingly reminded me of Ephesus, in Turkey.

 Passed by the Altare della Patria, which I would've loved to visit. It's even more impressive in person, and has been dubbed as a the 'wedding cake' as it is quite magnificent white structure. It is dedicated to the first king of Italy.

Levitating I question?

 Also, you'll see a lot of umbrella trees around Rome! I think it is so cute and such a unique tree. It was planted to provide more shade, as Rome is BLAZINGLY HOT. It's pretty cool during the morning, but by 11 o'clock, you can really feel the heat. I wish we had trees like that in Australia.

Of course we had to make a trip to Trevi Fountain. I made three wishes, using my right hand and throwing coins over my left shoulder. Legend says that throwing coins in the fountain will ensure a visit back to Rome. Hopefully I'll be back for you Roma :)

The only thing I would recommend is, visiting it maybe during night time? I've heard that it's less crowded then. The crowds in Rome are completely nuts, I've honestly never been to such a crowded touristy place (maybe besides Japan). So if you want to really enjoy the tourist attractions, I recommend visiting during early the day or evening-night time.

The Pantheon is another place you should not miss. I was pretty much wowed by it, just like the Celsus library in Turkey. You literally have to stand back and just take in the view as much as you can.

My parents' mango, pistachio and coffee.

The gelato is a must, especially in the blazing heat! Now, in Italy, there are hundreds of gelaterias, that you will not know which one is good and bad. However, I have read online a few tips to tell a real 'authentic' gelato.
1. Colour. Mint and pistachio are not meant to be vibrantly green. More of a subtle green, almost pale. The gelato colours should not look too colourful, but rather more natural.
2. The texture. Gelato should be creamy (made from milk), rather than icy. Icy, and you've got yourself a sorbet. I had an icy lemon & tiramisu gelato in Venice which wasn't very nice.

I recommend visiting the gelateria, Cremeria Monteforte near the Pantheon. It was recommended from the tour guide, and is definitely the best place for gelato. It was ultimately creamy, and not too sweet. I had mango, nutella and berries. I also tried my parents' coffee which was a good hit for coffee.

To be honest, there weren't really any food stand-outs in terms of lunch or dinner. We were with a tour group, and though we were given free time, we wouldn't have known where the hot spots are for dining. Sometimes, we had quick lunches because we had meeting points and we ended up having lunches at self-service places! Or else, we had dinner with the tour group in the hotel or in a restaurant. And we also left Italy without actually TRYING a proper Italian pizza which is thin and crispy, fresh from a wood-fired oven and served usually during dinner.

Thoughts on Rome? A beautiful, vibrant ancient city. However, a little too crowded for my liking, and my favourite city in Italy is Venice. I would come back to explore more of the food, and have two gelatos a day! I stand firm with my view that Italy has great authentic Italian food, as many people have said not to expect 'too much'. I personally think that we just didn't have enough time to really explore around the food gems of Rome. 

Eating mochi in Japan

Apologies for not posting very regularly, but I live a student life (Though I can imagine my sisters going on right now about how their work lives are much busier). And currently there are no holidays :( In other news though, my debate team (consisted of five girls including me) had our very last debate of the year against Huntingtower school, and we won! We were the negative team for "We should tax all fatty foods." However, I do actually agree with the statement, but studies have been done and they say that it needs to be 20% tax, in order to be effective. And the thing is, to impose a tax, it is rather difficult in terms on how effective it will be, jobs etc.

So anyway....

Dear Japan, I think your atmosphere is amazeballs. I visited in 2010 as a just-turned-13 year old. Such a tragedy in 2011, I cannot imagine anything like that. I am so thankful that Australia rarely has any major earthquakes, since we're not in the ring of fire.

Most people who visit Japan, typically love it. I did for sure! First of all, I am in love with Japanese food. I love sashimi, tempura, sushi; all those typical Japanese good! And the culture there, there's just something that makes you feel really good. You get a sense of closeness within the communities, and the high intelligence and precision they have. In contrast with Melbourne, as much as I love Melbourne, the 'precision' isn't really there and what I mean is in terms of transport; the stupid Metro trains... They spend millions of dollars and we get trains that aren't even on time? 

The bullet train there is crazy. It goes so fast, and is on time. Always. Japanese transport = smart and innovative. Sigh, if only Melbourne had that. 

I went with my parents, and with my relatives! All on my mum's side. My Yi Ma and Yee Cheong, Yi Yi and Li Yiing (Yi Ma and Yee Cheong's daughter and in other words, my cousin!) and also two of my parents' friends. We went on tour with Reliance. It was nice to have Li Yiing there hehe :)

My cousin, Li Yiing.

 We visited Japan during the 'Sakura season' which is the cherry blossom season in late March- early April, which is in spring. Melbourne also gets cherry blossoms during spring time, it is absolutely beautiful! In fact,  I went for my jog on the weekend and saw the first signs of spring; the bare trees starting to bloom pink blossoms.

Things I love about Japan:

. I love how Japanese people are so polite. And how hygienic it is.

. The toilets, oh the toilets. THE TOILETS ARE HONESTLY JUST SO COOL THERE. I think it's kind of like a 'bidet' (AHAHA learnt that in French last year). But I just searched it up and I think you call it a 'washlet'? I don't know.  So the toilet right, you can warm up the seat, you can apparently wash your butt or something (I didn't do that.). AND MUSIC LOL. I wish we had these in Melbourne. Or you know which country would find them extremely useful? MALAYSIA. The public toilets are filthy, especially those squat toilets. How are those any more hygienic than a normal western toilet?!?!? You get the picture.

I somehow can't find the picture I took, but I had to search for an image on Google.