travel diaries « dreams :|| in ||: digital

Friday, September 11

travel diaries

[spinning]: with teeth - nine inch nails

Breaks my heart to know that NIN will no longer be touring anymore. For the time being anyway, or at least I hope so. Did you know that there were in Singapore on the 10th of August? I mean, SINGAPORE. AT. FORT. CANNING. And I was way down south in Melbourne!!!! Ugh, how my heart hurts!!! *cries*

As a consolation though... Amilyn was nice enough to send me a postcard of their Fort Canning concert in Singapore. As a painful reminder of what I had missed. *cries more* But at least I had something right? Thanks Amilyn!! :D

My trip to the land down under was nothing short of awesome. I arrived in Brisbane after one of the worst flights I have ever been on (Thank you RBA), still wearing the dress I wore to Stephen and Lorene's wedding dinner, with caked on make up and greasy un-glam yet un-rockstar hair to be greeted by Sharon. We caught up over pizzas and thirst-quenching San Pellegrinos, and I changed and freshened up before we went to DFO. DFO was like a massive FOS and I was like 'OOOoooOOooo' every 3 seconds. Totally Kampung I know. lol. After that I was picked up by Honkie Tonk and we had bubble tea like we normally do back in Brunei.

Sooner than you can say 'mango popping balls', it was time to catch my flight to Melbourne. Checked in to the Stamford and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had been upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite! 2 bedrooms, for 1 person! Haha. I had a huge place all too myself! By that time, I was too tired to do anything else, and I ordered room service and called it a day.

I spent the whole of Sunday wandering to Bridge Road and had one of the best breakfasts at a place called Two Monks Cafe. I walked to Bridge Road from where the hotel was, and it was pretty far, about 45 mins, almost gave up halfway coz I got lost in between the parks. But I trudged on, spurred on by the prospects of clothes and shoes at the famed Bridge Road.

I came back to the hotel empty handed. Except for a few items from the Body Shop Warehouse where I got some pretty good deals. Urgh, it was depressing, the shops closed at 5 and I wasn't anywhere near exploring all the shops! Oh well. The only thing that was open was Woolies, and I spent the night browsing the racks and cosmetics. Then I bought frozen dinners to microwave in the suite coz I was too tired (and sad) to eat out.

Next day was work day, and boy oh boy, was it TIRING. 6 appointments in 6 different offices, and we had to walk most of the way. The walking wasn't so bad, it was lugging that heavy laptop bag that was a pain. I finally invested in a small laptop trolley bad while I was Singapore (only $69 ! SALE!!! <3)

Boom. Somehow I had reached Sydney. More work and more walking. Phew! Whoever told you business trips are holidays is a LIAR! I actually lost my voice right after the event we hosted at the Lindt Chocolatier at Martin's Place! I talked so much and I hardly had time to grab a drink, lest have anything to eat! I did manage to sneak a mug of fantastic mocha and sinful macaron before the start of the event though!

I met up with Andykins, and we went to eat Korean food, and went cafe hunting in Sydney on a Friday night. THAT is an adventure all on its own since all we found were pubs, bars, more pubs, oh look a bar, and hey! oh crap another bar. After an hour or so of roaming Sydney CBD, we finally found Gloria Jeans where we promptly plonked our bums outside and spent the night listening to Muse's new single and talking about life, music and movies, and reminiscing about the old days.

The next day, Ganessan, a colleague, was sweet enough to take me out to Paddington, an upmarket neighbourhood with the famed Paddington Market, Which I called a Flea Market, only to be smacked by G and corrected "Oh DARLING, never EVER say that it's a FLEA market!!". I soon learned why... almost everything cost more that $100, save for a few tiny trinkets! But I did score a pair of John Lennon-esque sunnies for $15!! :D

And then it's off to Brisbane again to be picked up by the Bee in her Blue baby!!! Checked in to Royal on the Park and was upgraded to the Suite which was massive and had a 2 person jacuzzi bathtub! A real treat after the tiring work week. Had dinner at a cute Fish and Chips place called A Salt and Battery. Love love love the name! Went to Southbank to take touristy pictures. And pigged out on dessert at Freestyle after.

Met the best friend and her hubby the next day and we went back to DFO! Shopping!!! Bought shoes! Of course! :) Sab took tonnes of pictures and has them up on her FB. I love the pictures she took when that stupid machine stole my money. :D

My last night in Australia was spent spying on amourous Brisbanites at Kangaroo Point. It was highly entertaining. Thanks Bee & Cass! Lol

I had one week at home in Brunei and then it was off to Singapore again, where I spent a little too much as usual. ION Orchard is this confusing maze of shops! Came home to Brunei with new clothes (G2000 was on sale! <3), accessories and can you guess? :D SHOES!

Met up with Ron, who was kind enough to hold my umbrella for me while we stood in the rain and I smoked my cigarette. Aww, and they say chivalry is dead. Bahahahaha. I also met up with Kim, my old college friend from KL who I hadn't seen since i left KL. One night was not enough to catch up on everything!! :(

And now I'm back in Brunei after a short one night trip to KK for work. And I will stay put for another 3 weeks, till October where I'll be heading to BANGKOK!!!! Exciteeeeeeee!! After that, it's time to store away the luggage bags, coz I'll be home till the end of the year. No more crazy business trips and crazy schedules for the next 5 months! :D

I feel really blessed to be have the chance to travel to all these wonderful places, Berlin, Australia, Hanoi... I would never, on my own, be able to afford to go to these places. And to have everything paid for, airfare, hotels, food, transport. God has truly been amazing.

This has been such an exciting year. I remember this time last year, I was making the decision whether to stay in Events or move to Global Sales, and well, I'm glad I made the right choice. No regrets.

Even now, with our new boss, things are looking up. I am really learning alot already from him. And though I have almost zero free time, from working so much, I feel like I'm accomplishing something. The road's going to be tough, but I know that it's all going to be worth it at the end of the day. When I'm finally able to be confident and not always have to second-guess myself. :)

Posted at 9:02 am by niks

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