Battle of the Beers

Ok time for a serious blogging topic.

When youre a student in a foreign land, one of the most critical thing to do is to find the best booze in town.

So ive taken the liberty to sample some of the popular Australian brands..

INTRODUCING....



West End, Coopers Pale Ale and Carlton Draught.

We start with West End.



I first encountered this beer while watching an aussie football match in the stadium. Now i dont claim to be a beer expert, but all i can say is that this beer is relatively mild from what we are used to back home.



Taste wise it is more malt-ish than tiger and not quite as bitter.

The cheapest of the 3 beers, costing AUS$2.30 per 350ml "stubbie"



all gone!

Next on the list is Coopers Pale Ale



Personally this is my least favourite between the 3 beers. It is also the most expensive at AUS$2.90 per 350ml "stubbie"

I dunno why. I dont like the taste. I actually tried it at the recommendation of my canadian housemate who told me that it was the best beer in aussie. Not quite i guess.

So on to the final one.

Carlton.



This costs AUS$2.60 per stubbie. And in my opinion is the nicest one out of the 3. I really enjoy beers which are not very bitter and this is one of them. But what sets it apart is that nice malt taste. mmmmm.

So very OBVIOUSLY..the winner is carlton. (sounds like a badminton brand no??)



GIMME GIMME MORE!

-_____-

But to be honest, bottled or canned beers can never EVER beat tap beers la. Id rather spend money on good tap beers than buying loads of stubbies.

Public service annoucement:

"You better don't drink too much ah! because alcohol makes your brain stupid.."-mummy

Inspired.

It begins with the long and harsh silence.

When every hour is counted and felt, spent on useless whys and what ifs.

Then as the days and months pass,new memories will be made. And all the sweet happenings of the past, will slowly fade away.

Life becomes brighter, your heart feels lighter,and soon you'll find laughter.(hey that rhymes!)

And we begin to move on.

I will do as i always do, i will find somebody new.

And I hope sometime in the future,

you'll find your someone too.

Vivian Tan

FIRSTLY, so sorry that this is late. I have been rather busy with field trips and enrolment issues over the last few days.

Its not very often that people ask me to do a blog post for a birthday present so im not very sure what to write..so ill just write about the birthday girl haha.

A little history lesson.

I first met vivian when completing the first 2 years of my biomed degree at INTI Nilai.


september 2007 HAHAHA. Dr Ooi's Chemistry lab session doing some wetwork :)

My first impression of vivian is that she was a :

1. Quiet person
2. Shy
3. Well behaved
4. Well mannered
5. Lady like

That was before she opened her mouth.

After she opened her mouth, its a whole new scenario.

The revised version of the above list:

1. LOUD
2. Not shy/ Thick Face
3. Well behaved ONLY WHEN TIRED/ SLEEPY/ SEDATED
4. Well mannered when meeting someone new
5. Erm, no comments.

HAHahahaha.

Ok..enough making fun of you..its supposed to be your birthday present anyways.

To be honest, i had plenty of fun being in your company during the INTI years.



We were lab partners for semester 2. Tht pic was from Ms liew's MCB122 prac session, blood typing experiment hahaha.



The consequences..I remember you kept pulling your finger away at the last minute so i had to cheat you by shooting the lancet at 2 when i said id count to 3 hahaha.

And then there was tht trip to kuching i made..



Still remember this?? Bings, november 2007. MY FACE LOOKS LIKE A FUCKING PAU WITH THAT CARROT HAIR STYLE @@!

and that random trip to midvalley @#%^^!$



Initially was pissed coz i felt it was a waste of my time..but i eventually cooled down haha.


Was it sometihng to do with pancakes or baskin robbins?? I cant really remember anymore hahaha.

we were closer in the early sems, but i guess we couldnt spend as much time after i chose 2+1. coz i Had to do much more hours than you did. And i was frequently in bad mood due to the workload.



Pimp daddy and his 2 girls hahaha. Jz kidding..with michelle and vivian. Note my unhappy face, there was a slight misunderstanding few hours before :)

Moving on..

Your birthday ,almost 1 year ago.



I dont know if you know, but it was my idea to surprise you in secret recipe. Me jon and XN bought the present collectively at sunway pyramid after much discussion and plenty of hassle hahaha.



The planning was so last minute. Ran around class to get everyone to sign this before class ended.Mine is just above the balloons on the left hand side :D



Secret recipe @ nilai. The guys hiding behind the counter for your surprise haha. Luckily the staff was sporting. XD. And look at chun hao! wtf..hahaha.



For once you were still and quiet. And the cake slices were handpicked by me! wuhoo!


Secret recipe, july 21st 2008.

Before you left, i remember editing your personal statement which was erm....challenging :D. It was so hilarious that i saved the edited version for erm, posterity hahaha.

here's some of it

With each advancement in the field of biomedicine, comes the need and demand for biomedical scientists. Personally, this field interests me mainly because of my love for Biology. I was born and bred in a town located in the heart of Borneo called Kuching; a place of harmony, tranquillity and serenity. I grew up as an inquisitive child, and biology was always the answer to many of my questions regarding nature as its many wonders never ceased to amaze me. As i matured and continued reading biology at the secondary level of education, the cellular mechanisms of living organisms greatly interested me, and my passion to learn more has increased ever since.

what.total. BULLSHIT. HAHAHAHAAH

Sem 3 was the last sem you were in malaysia. By september 2008, you were 7000kms away in Newcastle. But that didnt prevent your ngongness from infecting me.



SO SCARY! hahahaha. I knew i kept that stupid screenshot somewhere on my hard disk..

and so its been close to a year now since i last saw you in person. Time really flies huh. And by the look of things, we would probably only meet after we graduate.

A single blog post isnt really enough to list down all the stuff and shits tht happened. And like any friendship, weve been through many ups and downs. Fights and laughter, sadness and joy. Sometimes i wanted to kill you. Sometimes you wanted to kill me hahaha. But tht would never change the fact that you remain one of the most special friends that i have.

All the best for your final year. Study hard, don't pray pray. I might not be able to save you like i did for your case studies coz id be so fucking busy with my final year stuff as well @@. Believe you can do it. You're not stupid. and no, you're not retarded either . I honestly believe that you have what it takes if you dig deep and never give up.

okkkkkkkk i can hear you say " HAIYAH SUI BIAN NAH! HEN MA FARN AR NI AH BEAR! *STRESS*

oh ya one last thing..



Micheal says G'DAY MATE! all the way from Adelaide, South Australia. :D

Ill see you when i see you :).

Day 6

Today began at 7.30, with me standing in front of the shower half asleep.

Went to see the course advisor and got a shitty timetable..(but no morning classes yay!)

Then i had a big breakfast before wondering around the uni doing random stuffs..

Headed to rundle mall around midday and waited for wendy to come, which was probably the most exciting aspect of what would otherwise be a very dull day haha.

Since we were supposed to meet at borders, i decided to have a look at what they had to offer.

Pretty impressive collection, and ive found 2 books ive been interested in.

The Mahabharata and also the Bhagavad Gita(which is in fact part of the mahabharata) :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

The Mahabharata had a very complicated translation, so ill probably leave that for later, definitely gonna pick up the Bhagavad Gita tomorrow or whenever im back in town.

Met with wendy shortly after...was really cautious cause scared i got the wrong person haha. Much taller than i expected!

So we walked to chinatown, chatting a hell lot in between. Had hainanese chicken rice for lunch and it wasnt nice..rice was too gingery. I think the chicken rice in INTI dining hall taste better. hahaha..if i convert the price, that plate of chicken rice would cost me 21 ringgit while the dining hall one cost only 3.20 hahahaha okokok i better stop converting dollars to ringgit its not healthyyyyyyyyyyy.

After lunch Wendy became my impromtu tour guide taking me through Rundle Street right till the East terrace where we made our way to the botanical gardens before heading to the Art Gallery, stopping by Torrens river on the way.

Saw some modern art which were pretty hard to appreciate hahaha..some of the more classical ones were nice though especially the statues and carvings. Loved the east asian cast iron miniatures from india and thailand..awesome stuff.

spent a few minutes in the state museum which was next door and went to stop by the state library as well..wondered around rundle mall sumore till dark and made our way to chinatown were we parted ways.

Overall a VERY fun day, but the double blisters on the sole of my feet was proof that i mustve walked halfway around the world..

All credits to wendy for being a super awesome and fun tour guide, and thanks for warning me about hindley street hahaha. look forward to meeting up again soon :)

oh, the funniest moment of the day:

Wendy: erm, I thinkk thats north...*points south*

Me: No, north terrace is that way, north is that way *points north*

your sense of direction.....is..quite impressive. hahahaha. just kidding.

if youre reading this, ive warned you that this blog is rubbish :D

well thats it for now, and one last thing. Gonna buy a digicam soon so look out for more photos gracing this blog FINALLY!

-signing out-

Day 3

Day 3 in Adelaide..

woke up at 12pm( some things never change...) after being called by my sis. Went online to look at google maps and took a shower. Had liquid breakfast..no seriously, theres a drink called liquid breakfast for $2.

Adelaide is a nice place, not too busy and not too dull. And the weather is nice too. Not when the wind blows though...brrr. Add rain and youre gonna get frozen. Today was 12 degrees+wind and light showers.

Took the Free City Loop bus a.k.a 99C to the uni...like the name says, its free. Spent a good 3 hours in the central business district looking for various things and opening my aussie bank account. Went back to the uni to meet with yanie, wan xian and eugene to sort out some travel and sight seeing stuff haha.

Unlike you UNSW buggers, instead of clubbing, we Adelaide people get to see whales @ Victor Harbour *SIGH*

Budgeting here is difficult..food is expensive. I spent at least $12 just on food for today. Thats like RM 35..and im eating the dirt cheap stuff mind you..then i bought other essential items like towels and toilet paper, plus a LAN cable for my internet connection.

Slowly im adjusting to the culture here...

The mannerisms of aussie people are abit strange to the uninitiated...especially those of us who come from an asian background.

people here say "how are ya" alot.. and the automatic reply is " Im good thanks" no matter how shitty you're feeling..

Its not as if they expect you to tell them how you really are feeling.

Most of them are friendly, I greet the bus driver every time i board and thank him/her when i get off. Almost everyone does that..

The city is clean and well ordered. It took me less than 24 hours to figure out the layout of the city. Cant say the same for the Uni coz everything is in a mess!

All the Uni buildings have a brownish shade and made of either brick or stone. Alot of church like structures and cloisters which give it a medieval feeling. I still havent figured out the whole layout of the uni..its so unpredictable..union hall on one side, library on the other..and all of a sudden a huge ass science lab appears out of nowhere..

And they all look alike! argh..The signs are SOOO TINY and its only at the entrance of the building..so go figure.

Overall a very beautiful campus with nice buildings..you feel smarter just by standing there haha.

And the busses are awesome..never packed, mostly on time..never late for more than 5 minutes..friendly NON suicidal driver who actually greets you when you board. Taxi if fucking expensive but the drivers are good and professional. NON suicidal as well unlike those who work for the public transport system back home.

And on my way home from the grocerie store, i found a curious looking building tucked away in a small street right next to my accomodation..A BOXING GYM. HAHAHA. Im going for a free lesson tomorrow :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D.

lifes good :)

-signing out-

Day 3, wo hen xiang ni...gotta expand my mandarin vocab..haha. WAN XIANNNN HELLPPPPPP!!!!!..

My Epilogue

Applause please.

My final curtain call is here, as the end of this illustrious chapter draws nearer.

In less than 24 hours i will leave this country to complete my biomedical science degree.

As i sit here pondering about what the future has planned for me, I can help but smile to myself as i reminisce about the past 3 months.

Its really impossible to write down all the great things only home can bring.

working out in a dingy gym, drinking beer with friends on the beach , going out to the countryside to enjoy nature, long conversations in friends houses under the influence of alcohol,playing darts in the bar, babbling endlessly about what the future may bring upon each and everyone of us.

But that is what scares me the most. Slowly we are growing. Most of us are at a transition age, Comming out of our teenhood to the realm of young adulthood. Soon some of us will have to take responsibilities. Commitment to jobs, further education and ofcourse families.

soon there will be a time when we can no longer drop by each others houses to have a drink, or talk rubbish. No time for the beaches with the campfire nights. No more staying by the lighthouse drinking beers and counting the various vessels and offshore platforms off the coast of our beautiful town.

But lets leave that for the future.

For now lets cherish the memories that we so carelessly forge out of stupidity and drunkedness. Let us celebrate our youth, and hold our glasses high, in a toast for our future.

id like to shout out to some of the people who have made my holidays a more meaningful one.

*************************************************************************************
To my sunway sweethearts:

Brenda( especially u! haha) michelle and jas, its been great meeting up together as a group after so long. Every summer comes with the same sense of excitement and this year proves to be the best one for me thus far. Brenda commin all the way to sarawak, road trips to brunei and all the crazy drama that unfolded. Priceless. Thanks for it all. Really look forward to seeing you girls again next summer!

To Lau:

Lau u are my 4 oclock buddy...cause i normally sign in the gym around 4 haha. Thanks for the gym company and all the funny shits that goes with it. Be it spotting girls in taman bulatan, or helping me get past that last rep on the bench.

And I also appreciate all those invites to thai bar and other parties XD.

Do take good care of yourself and do well in your studies. Ill be back in the gym next year..watch out for a dude with big biceps and popping chest with perfect 8 pecs abs, thats me HAHA.( as if...)

To The Geng Ucak Yang-Sik -Guna

Korang la nok geng paling paloi skali..tp mun sikda korang nang sik rock la kat miri tok. Gonna miss those gatherings on the beach..drinking beer around a makeshift campfire. Nights at the pub where we talk rubbish and darts. Most of all, in carlsons house (port) where each and every recollection would never fail to bring a smile to my face and laughter in my heart.

mun ngan korang nang sikda stress la..plan pun plan koboi.

(BAHASA BAKU MODE: ON)

saya amat berbangga kerana kita semua telah maju dan boleh buat planning sampai tahap menulis minit minit meeting bagi meng-sucess kan bbq kita pada hari tersebut. Hanya satu perkara yang saya tidak puas hati ya itu beer yang tidak habis telah diminum oleh housemate carlson dengan tanpa izin hahahaha.

to the girls: Irene, Genevib, Nadine and Rachel.

You girls have always been the emotional pillar for me. Somehow, its easier to pour out your hearts content to girls rather than guys. guys are far less understanding haha. You have no idea how much u all mean to me when you pulled me through some rough patches, especially you rach. And all those sharings we 3 had at one point or another haha. I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

Irene, please continue jogging eventhough we didnt go much this time hahaha. And Gen, do get out the house more often!! But don drink too much hahaha. Ill always remember that crazy night in thai bar. Nadine, you hav to stop chasing/ attracting your juniors. remember, they have to come through me.

rach, put that bottle of vodka down and go to sleep..good girl.

To Avery: I have nothing to say.

ahahaha im just playing. Next round of drinks in the Island is on me( if i graduate). I seriously think that we should make that place our second home. So that you dont have to drive home in a drunk state all the time. See i care for you buddy. Just like how i cared for you as you lay bleeding and wounded after that deadly motorcycle crash of ours.

when i come back in july, this is our drinks menu:

5 shots of tequila each
3 glasses whisky, dry.
various cocktails (minimum 4..)
Beer until we get KO

And lastly to Vince:

You found yourself a real rare one buddy. Take good care of her...or should i say it the other way around. hahaha.

Joyce, if u reading this, make sure he studies!! Beat him up if he doesnt. A girl who can drive a manual car is a strong one.

Ill see again next year bro, tower beer again till the lights go out haha. Do focus on your studies and get through ur adv. dip. Should be easier with her around. Regards to ur mum and dad.

************************************************************************************

I must say that juggling between exercising and hanging out is really tough. Going out = high calorie intake. And yes, as some of you can see, ive gained ALOT of weight.

But i reason it with this simple statement:

weight gained can be lost in an instant. Friendships celebrated and memories forged lasts a lifetime.

Till the next time i see you guys..

cheers.

-signing out-