this is long overdue. my friends (you know who you are) have been bugging me… some even doubted i even went to sydney at all. anyway…
its in. AT LAST.
had a ball in sydney. very very short trip. was like a 2.5 day work-trip/holiday over the Good Friday weekend sponsored by CANON, Tourism New South Wales and Singapore Airlines. travelling with Peifen of YES 93.3FM was a ball! we totally bonded – love that girl to bitsss. also got to know Thomas Ong a lil better. omg ive had the biggest crush on him for the longest time. he’s a loada fun too. and with us was CANON’s pro photographer Jino and our uber cool guide Duglass. together us five, we rocked sydney. its really the people who make the holiday extra special.
from HUNDREDS of photos taken with 3 different CANON cameras (the Power Shot SX210, the S90 and the EOS 7D), i FINALLY managed to choose about 100 odd of my favs…. edited them… and uploaded them onto this mother entry. it was so darn tedious i tell you. i wish blogs would have a simple photo uploader function akin to that of facebook’s – one that allows a one-shot uploader with simple drag-and-pull style of arranging photo layout on blog. *sigh* a girl can only wish…
i also brought along my FISHEYE 2 LOMO cam for fun shots although loadsa frames were underexposed cuz my in-built flash decided to die on me at the most inopportune moments. so im missing precious shots of Tien and his lovely girlfriend Jaclyn and her bro Ben… who so kindly took Peifen and I around for some last minute sight-seeing and then drove us to the airport before rushing off to their evening Easter mass at church. BIG LOVE TO YOU THREE for being awesome companions – wish we had more time to hang!
DAY 1: SYDNEY FISH MARKET
DAY 1: BONDI BEACH
after the beach, we headed to The Rockies where we took embarked on a little photography journey with our power “guns”… i toyed around with the EOS 7D. *love* im considering to get that… but it was a tad heavy. decisions decisions… my bro is using a Nikon. if i get a Nikon, we can share lens – makes more economic sense. BUT the 7D looks so good on me…
later that night, i met up with an old friend of mine, Calista. we knew each other when we were teenagers! now she’s a doctor based in sydney and she just got engaged too! cause for celebration EXCEPT THAT its good friday night. there’s a blanket ban on alcohol after 10pm. bollocks. we met at the Hyatt’s Marble Bar just a little before 10pm. avneesh came along too. we managed to squeeze a drink out of the bartender who then told us that we can forget about drinks anywhere across sydney after we get done 
then a friend of Cali’s, this korean doctor friend of hers… Leo suggested that we check out Little Korea near Chinatown. cuz apparently the koreans love breakin rules. so desperate us trudged towards our Plan B. we literally went a-knockin from restaurant to restaurant until we found this one… we sent Leo in to test waters:
Leo (in aussie-accented korean): do you serve alcohol?
Korean restaurant owner: no no we dont.
(pause)
Korean restaurant owner:… are you korean?
HAHAHAHA! on that cue, we all rushed in like happy fools and ordered Shochu pronto! they got served in plastic water flasks. hilarious: undercover alk. noiiice.
my kimchi bowl. one of the best ive ever had honestly xxx
callie and me xxx
DAY 2: BOURKE STREET BAKERY
the pies, pastries and tarts here are LEGENDARY. we arrived for breakfast at 9am and there was already a queue!!! had the yummiest ham-cheese-bacon croissant-toastie. and a buffet of tarts and muffins followed! the lovely bakery owner even gifted me a hard-cover copy of the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook so that i can recreate the recipes! im sharing the book with Peifen cuz she actually bakes. (im only after the savoury recipes in there)
DAY 2: SURRY HILLS + PADDINGTON MARKET
DAY 2: YACHT RIDE AROUND SYDNEY HARBOUR
DAY 2: THE IVY – COOLEST CLUB IN SYDNEY
DAY 2: SEAFOOD DINNER AT CIRCULAR QUAY
to be honest, its alot like Boat Quay: touristy. not my scene at all. food wasnt fab too. hello, i hail from chilli crab land, you cannot trick me into believing that steamed/boiled lobsters are seafood nirvana. cant be lorrr!!! LOL! anyway since we had to go there, might as well have fun and make the best of it right? so… we started playing with our food.
DAY 2: DRINKS @ ZETA BAR (HYATT HOTEL)
thank goodness we were rolling with the tourism board people… else we gotta queue up to get into the club! we were well taken care of – VIP style. had a pretty neat table with the mixologist personally serving us our night’s poisons… then left the club and headed down to the basement bar for some live music.. man. the band there, RADIO CITY CATS, was AWESOME! i fell in love with the drummer… perfect guy. xxx
DAY 3: BREAKFAST @ BONDI BEACH + HARLEY TOUR
i love bondi beach. cool lil community. visited the bath house (nostalgia) again…. hopped onto harley davidson for a bike tour too! it was my first time ever riding a harley and boy that beast was smooooth and sexaaay! rounded up the afternoon with a visit to Bondi FM where i met the coolest chick/owner/DJ Nat Ayres. its bondi beach’s very own radio station cum cafe joint. open decks. anyone can spin. really wicked concept. we still keep in touch 
i miss sydney already. sigh…
anyway i’ll be exhibiting my travel photos and sharing travel photography tips with Peifen and Thomas and Jino at the CANON Power In Your Hands Seminar. happening SATURDAY 15th MAY @ Suntec Ballroom 3. registration fee only costs you $10. sign up and you’ll stand a chance to win a travel voucher worht $500 courtesy of Dynasty Travels. to register, email: radiopromo@mediacorp.com.sg
hope to see you there! *yawn* its 140am. going to bed now…. xxx
RYAN LEE
