Eating Out

Went to Northbridge for lunch again over the weekend Saturday. Tried another restaurant, Dragon Seafood Restaurant (66 - 72 Francis St Northbridge 6003 Tel 08 9227 8882) this time for dim sum. We've always driven passed this place many times and noticed that it was always pretty crowded for lunch and so we decided to try it out. It is easy to find as it is pretty big and there's a KTV upstairs.

During lunch, there's extra seating space upstairs at the KTV lounge and if you are willing to go upstairs instead, the queue can be pretty fast. (I got our seats almost immediately after getting in to the restaurant while hubby went looking for a parking lot.) The disadvantage is that the carts don't come around as often and the seats can be a bit uncomfortable as they are the bar stools type and they swing around easily. Otherwise, you get the same food but the more popular ones get brought up more often and you may need to order the less popular ones as they don't make their round up here sometimes.

There are quite a number of waiters and waitresses around. The lady who served me was really helpful and friendly. She whipped out her own mobile when I apologetically asked to borrow a phone to inform hubby where our seats were. I had forgotten to take mine out that morning.

We ordered our usual char siew bun, siew mai, xiao long bao and char siew cheong fun. This time we added glutinous rice, har gao, baked char siew buns (the ones that are brown) and durian puff. We ordered the fried carrot cake but it took forever to arrived. It actually arrived after we've paid up. Food wise I think it's slightly better than Dim Sim Cafe, at least the bun has slightly more meat and less doughy. We can taste the durian in the durian puff but I didn't really like the overall texture as it felt a bit too dry and the taste of durian was not strong enough for wife's taste buds . At the end of it, we ordered 9 dishes this time round and the bill came up to $44.50 for the 2 of us. I think we must definitely look at eating something besides dim sum every weekend.


During lunch yesterday, we went to Market City Canning Vale to get our grocery shopping done and usually we'll drop by the food court in it to grab our brunch. We'll usually have a big breakfast which for $9.90, it's quite a value for money. It has 2 eggs, a sausage, bacon, mushrooms, 2 toasts, half a tomato and a hot drink. It is definitely enough for a big eater like me and usually I've to help my wife finish her portion too.


After brunch, we bought our vegetables and meat in the market and managed to get a fin from a skate. Will definitely use it to make something similar to the bbq sting ray we have back in Sin. Yum yum.

For dinner yesterday, we went to Spencer Village Food Court at Spencer Rd, Thornlie. It is unique in the sense that all the shops there sell only Asian food. It really reminds me of a food court in KL. There are at least 10 different shops but at least 4 of them sells almost the same stuff. There's a stall that sells Jap food, a Vietnamese stall, a Singapore style hawker stall, a Penang stall, an Indian briyani stall, a dim sum stall, a Malay stall and a couple of Chinese stalls. There is also a drinks stall where you can get soya milk by the jug and they also sell durian chendol and ice kachang. The food there ain't too bad and I had a plate of Nasi goreng with egg ($7) while my wife had the hor fun ($7).

Ducks! Ducks!

Life is so full of surprises!

Knowing that this is going to be a sunny day, I was loading my machine like mad to do the washing. The third load was already in the washer and I was hanging the second load when suddenly at the corner of my eyes I saw two ducks swim by!!!When did the ducks arrive? I didn't even know they were there when I brought the clothes out.


I dropped all my clothes, zoomed into the house, grabbed the first camera I saw, out into the backyard again and the pair of them were still there! Got to get a picture of them in the pool. As my camera booted up, the ducks decided it was time to waddle around the garden! I thought I'll just follow the pair till they get back into the pool again.


They seemed to know that I was trying to take a picture of them so they brought me on a big merry-go-round around the pool and the garden. I gave up chasing after them and went back to hanging my load. That was when they decided that a swim in the pool will get that silly woman with the silver thing to be interested in them again.


This time round I was ready (I didn't shut down the camera but left it to idle.). Managed to get a few shots of them but was trying to catch some more when they again decided it was much more fun on dry land. I was just about to leave them for the clothes when they plopped themselves into the pool again.

This time round, it was a short turn around and they went for a walkabout again. They looked like they were planning something with their heads close together. Then they must have decided on playing a prank on me and came in real close (about a meter from me). I was getting ready to catch them but before I could get press the shutter, they just took off into the air! Ugh!!!

Ducks! I do hope they come back again. I have seen small birds around the backyard now and then, picking up seeds we left out in the open for them or going for a bath in the birdbath or waiting out the rain on a stand under the sheltered part of the garden. This is the first time ducks drop in. Hopefully there are many more to come...

List of Services

This is just a list of services that I found useful in Perth.

Video
There are many video outlets all over Perth and in every suburb but unfortunately their collection of Chinese DVDs are bad. The following are those that have a good collection of Asian DVDs.

Video & Comic - Rear 101 Jame St Northbridge Tel: 9227 5388
Mon - Sat 11.30 to 6.30 Sun 11.30 to 4.30
$2 per disc per day. Membership is $50 but refundable when cancelling the membership after 6 months. They have a pretty good collection of film and tv serial.

Wing Loong News and Books - 268 William St Northbridge Tel: 9227 7872
Mon - Sun 10 to 6.30
$2.50 per disc per day up to max of 7 days. No. of discs allowed to borrow depends on amount of membership deposit. $30 - 5 discs, $50 - 8 discs and so forth. Good collection of discs plus some English and easy to find as the covers are put in a file.

Electrical Repairs
My vacuum cleaner stopped working the other day and had to find someone to repair it. Can do it myself but I'll need to get soldering iron, flux and pump and getting those will cost me more than sending to someone to do it.

Household Appliance Parts - 6/26 Gympie Way, Willeton WA 6155 Tel: 9354 1488, 4/48 Prindville Dr Wangara WA6065 Tel: 9409 1335
Mon - Fri 8.30 - 5 Sat 8.30 - 12.30
They repair just about everything. They charge $45 first and will call you first if charges above $120. Final bill will include the $45.

Saturday at Northbridge

Northbridge is a suburb that has always been a popular place for locals and tourists to visit for a long time. It's popular for its night spots like the Dean, The Shed, Brass Monkey and countless others that congregate mainly around James St, Aberdeen St and Francis St. At the same time, there are countless restaurants and eateries around too and this is also where Perth's Chinatown can be found albeit a very small one.

For my wife and I, we will go to Northbridge because that's where most of the Asian restaurants and supermarkets can be found. They are all over Northbridge although most can be found along William St. Besides Asian restaurants, there are many other nationality of food that can be found here like Italian and Eqyptian to name a few.

Yesterday after our usual tai chi lesson, we went to Northbridge for lunch and we always have a problem in that we can't decide on what we want to eat although there many restaurants around. As we were driving along William St, we saw a queue outside one of the Chinese restaurants and we though we would give it a try. We had to circle around the area a couple of times to find free parking. On Saturdays, it is free parking after 12.30 along the streets but if you decide to park in the many available private parking lots like either CPP or Wilson Parking, it's going to cost you about more than $3.30 per hour.

The restaurant we went to is called Dim Sim Cafe (3/297 - 299 William St, Northbridge WA 6003 Tel: 08 93289388. Open from 9.30 to 3 daily except Wed)) and like it's name, they specialise in dim sum. We had to get a number from the waitress and was told that we had to wait for 20 minutes. I thought to myself that the food must be good or the price must be really cheap if there is such a queue and everybody seems to be enjoying themselves, but frankly after the lunch, I was full but not very impressed. The thing I like about the dim sum here is that they still use the push cart to bring the food to you and then you decide whether you want them or not. In Singapore, most restaurants stopped that and I think that it's a pity. I love to look at the variety of food and then to pick and choose instead of just looking at the menu and pick the food based on just words, especially when they give weird names to them and then you have to decipher what you are eating.

We had 8 different dishes altogether which included our usual char siew bao, siew mai and prawn cheong fun. Besides those 3, we had fried fish ball, Steam bean curd pocket stuffed with fish roe, Xiao Long Bao, fried radish cake and prawn and chives dumpling. The food was okay but nothing to rave about. I liked the bean curd the best, it was very tasty. For the bun, it was way too much dough and not enough meat and the meat was a bit too fatty for me (there will be some who likes fatty meat). The cheong fun was too thick when it comes to to dough part and it doesn't melt in the mouth like it is meant to. The fried radish cake was okay although it could have been fried slightly longer, I like mine very crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. At the end of the meal, we wanted to try the dao fu fa (bean curd dessert) but it was sold out. Although the food was okay, the service was pretty good and efficient. The waiters and waitress try to ensure that the turnaround was fast and they are always bringing food over to recommend. At one stage, one of the chefs came out and helped explain and recommend the dishes to some of the Caucasian. The meal costs us $36.50 for 8 dishes which I guess is pretty standard for Perth.

After lunch, we went over to Emma's Seafood (319, William St, Northbridge WA 6003) to get some groceries done. Emma is an Asian Supermarket that is popular for their yong tau foo, fish cakes and fish balls. You can buy them seperately in packs of 1 kg or 500g or like for me I'll buy a combination pack which costs around $14.56 instead. It's enough to make 3 meals for the 2 of us.

After getting our stomach filled and the groceries done, we went over to Wing Loong News and Books (268 William St Northbridge WA6000) to rent some DVDs. There are 3 video shops that I know of around William St and they rent Chinese, Korean and Japanese serials and movies. Over in Wing Loong, they costs $2.50 per disc per day (max 7 dyas) so usually we'll get 7 discs so that we can return them the next week when we make our weekly run to Northbridge. Usually I'll go to Video & Comic (Rear 101 James St Northbridge 6003) to get my videos instead. It costs $2 for each DVD but the range is not as good as Wing Loong. What I like about V & C is the price and unlike Wing Loong, if I borrow 20 discs, I'll have 20 days to return them. It is not easy to spot this place as it is along an alley but as you walk along James St heading away from William St, you'll see an alley on the left just before James Street Kitchen restaurant and just follow the lane and it's on the left.

List of asian supermarkets in Perth

As Singaporeans, we definitely need to get our food fix and not surprisingly, Coles, Woolworths and IGA do stock some asian food but not a lot. At the end of the day, we still need to go to asian supermarkets to get our things like durian cakes and you tiao. Yum yum. These supermarkets can be found all over Perth as there are a lot of Asians here. I've listed some of the supermarkets that we frequent and found according to whether it's north or south of the Swan river. Again, I'll update the list as I get their address.

North of the river

Emma's Seafood - 319 William St Northbridge WA 6003 Tel 08 9228 8899
Popular supermart with the local asians especially with the Singaporean and Malaysians because of the fresh yong tau foo that they stock. If I remember correctly, the owners were from Singapore so you can find lots of things from Singapore and Malaysia here.

Maruyu Japanese City Supermarket - Shop 2 33 Barrack St Perth WA 6000 Tel: 08 9202 1764
A small Japanese supermarket right smack in the CBD area. A little bit hard to find but once you see 33 Barrack St, just go into the building and it's at the end. Not many products but enough to satisfy my craving. Whenever I make tempura, I rather get the flour from here as the other shops do not stock tempura flour from Japan, instead it's one of the local brands in Aus and I don't like the taste of it. They sometimes sell expired items at a major discount and I'll always buy those as long as they did not expire too long ago.

South of the river

Market City Gourmet and Oriental Groceries - Market City, Canning Vale
A popular grocery shop run by an Indonesian family. They have some of the widest range of sauces from all over south east asia ranging from Vietnam to Indonesia which I've never seen most of the sauces before I stepped into the shop. Again it is one of those one stop shop that carries almost everything you will need to cook up a feast of Asian food.

Chan Bros - Leach Highway, Myaree
Another popular asian grocery run by a Singaporean family. Will go there whenever I need to make bak kut teh as they sell a version that is peppery which I can't find any where else.

Willeton Seafood - High Road, Riverton
A branch of Chan Bros which stocks the same things as the branch at Leach Highway.

Oriental Cash and Carry - Junction of Bannister Rd and Willeri Ave
This is the warehouse for Kongs supermarket so you can get virtually everything you may need here. What I like is that they have a policy of giving discount when you buy more which is good for me since I stock up on food now that I'm in the country.

List of places to visit in Western Australia

This is just a list of places that I have visited while in Western Australia. I will slowly add them over time and though I haven't been to many places yet, I guess I will in the near future.

Perth
Caversham Wildlife Park, Whiteman Park, Whiteman WA6068 Tel: 08 9248 1984
Nice place to visit to see the fauna of Australia and you can spend the whole day here especially if you have kids. Entry is $22 for adults and $8 for kids under 14.

Caversham Wildlife Park

Last December we went to Caversham Wildlife Park, which is at Whiteman Park near the Swan Valley. Besides going up to Yanchep National Park and the zoo, it's the only place I can think of in WA that you can see Koalas and wombats. Apparently they are both native faunas of the eastern states and not here. If you want to see kangaroos, you can see them all over the place in the country and in the city, just go to Heirisson island and you can see a few of them which are protected. The entrance is $22 for adults and $8 for kids under 14 so for a family of 4 with 2 young kids, it's going to cost $60.


In Caversham, the main attractions are definitely the wombats which gets pretty big, the koalas and the kangaroos.

For the koalas, they actually have a koala enclosure where you are allowed to get really close up to them to take photos and for the kangaroos it's even better, you can feed them and touch them, that is if you dare. They were pretty docile when we were there, but we were told that the males can be quite aggressive.

Besides the usual mammals, they have all kinds of local birds like the kookaburra and parrots.



But the most amazing thing to me is their collection of albino animals, there's peacocks, kangaroos and others. I've never seen albino animals before, except for the white tigers.



And what is a visit to Australia without seeing farm life which they have at Caversham with their collection of farm animals and a sheep shearing show.



I guess at the end of the day, when people come over to Australia, one of the must see and do things is to see real life kangaroos and koalas and 'experience' farm life and Caversham does fulfill that without you having to trek into the wild to see them. But personally for me, nothing beats seeing them in their natural environment and for that, you may have to rough it out a little.

Photography

I've always been interested in photography and at one stage seriously contemplated of doing it as a profession but again got talked out of it. Definitely a wrong move.
The first thing I did when I went to uni was to get involved in a photography club and there was a dark room in my hall and I learnt a lot from the guys I met there. I was fortunate to meet with a student (forgot his name) who was a freelance press photographer and learnt a lot of darkroom technique and the use of a camera. Whatever he taught is definitely applicable is applicable today even with Photoshop. Nowadays with a DSLR, you can simply point and shoot and then look at your photo and then make changes but in the past, we really had to plan every single shot by looking at the lighting, composition and even the type of film as every mistake we made means money. I feel that those photographer who played with film definitely benefited more than those who just did digital, at least in the planning part.

The first thing I did when I came over to Perth was to look for a camera club to join. Found Perth Camera Club and it was useful for me to get a footing. They are not really a club in the usual sense in that it is a commercial thing and they specialise in portraits, which is not something that I have a lot of exposure to. I found it pretty good as they do organise model shoots with proper studio set ups and outdoor shoots on a frequent basis although you do have to pay for it. The studio they have is one of the biggest one I've seen so far and it's big enough to actually drive a car in if you want to do a car shoot.

While I was trying to shoot the setting sun over Perth one evening, I met Frank and he introduced me to Workshop Camera Club, which is one of the best thing that could happen. It is a proper club whereby people meet every Wednesday evening to talk about photography and they hold competition evey month with a profesional judge and have workshops almost every week.

I was very happy a few months back when the first photograph I submitted for the club's competition was adwarded a merit. It is a photograph I took when I went to Beijing and I was looking for something that reflected an older scene .

It's definitely good fun and the best thing about it is that the people who meet are not just the professionals but serious amateurs of all levels. The workshops are very good too as they invite professionals in to give talks and like this evening we had Shannon Conway who is an amazing underwater photographer give a talk on the equipment he uses and the technique he employs when doing a shoot. It was fantastic as I learnt a lot and now I understand why my underwater shots look like crap.

Moving to Australia 2

When we decided to take the step of moving to Australia, we went to see Philip at nTrust at the end of 2004. He was very helpful and he helped to check whether we were 'qualified' to apply for a PR Visa. Apparently there are different categories and depending on individuals qualifications, they can apply for different types of Visa. It is based on a point system whereby age, qualification, jobs are all taken into account. My advise is to visit a migration agent to see if you qualify if you are interested in going through the migration process, but make sure that the initial consultation is free. Furthermore the Immigration Department is always changing the regulations and it is hard to keep up with all the changes.

After going through our details, Philip advised us to submit the application through my wife as she is younger. Luckily for us, we are teachers and teachers do get higher points. Apparently there is a shortage of qualified teachers (check with individual states if you are interested in becoming a teacher, I'll talk about what I went through in a later post). Spouses automatically get the PR too so I had to just tag along.

For the application, PC had to submit all her documents ranging from birth cert to academic transcripts. As she was applying for a Skilled Migrant Visa as a teacher, she also had to sit for IELTS to prove that her command of English is up to the Austalians' standards, lol. She had to score higher than the usual and the papers are long and tedious. She had to register and get the dates to do it it at RELC. My advice for teachers migrating here is to apply for teacher registration as soon as they get the IELTS and the PR is approved, as IELTS is valid for only a year and they need that to be registered as a teacher here. If you make the same mistake as us, you haveto resit for the paper again and it is a toture. There's actually another qualification besides IELTs which is easier and they do accept for teacher registration but not for all states.

One thing good about going through a migration agent is that you do not have to go around looking to get the documents certified. The agent will do it for you. Certification must be recognised by the Australian government and apparently our JP is not recognised.

After getting all our documents done, which was very smooth, especially with Philip's help. We lodged the application sometime in early June of 2005 and surpisingly we got our approval in Nov 2005. The PR Visa is valid for 5 years from the date of approval and we were actually not ready to move over that soon as we still had other commitments. We only finally moved over in 2008 as one of the requirements is that you must stay at least 2 out of 5 years of the PR if you wish to get the PR renewed and we did not want to waste the opportunity.

New Jewellery project

Is there such a thing as creator's block (like as in writer's block)? I'm back at my beading again. Hopefully this time I'll be able to complete my necklace.

I've got the lampwork beads for awhile but just couldn't get any idea as to what to do with them. Then suddenly out of nowhere some flickering light just popped in my mind and I'm hard at work now.

What you see in the picture is work in progress but this one knot just drives me crazy for an hour till some part of me says to use the pins. And, I got it under wraps in less than 3 minutes!

I like to use Chinese knots with lampwork beads as the beads gets showcase very well. I've tried to come up with some patterns using wire but it just doesn't sit right. The gist of the pattern is still there but variations of the basic keeps coming up and I hope it will turn out well as I'm also experimenting.

I like to work with natural stones and crystals especially when I'm using wires. It's just a personal preference. I've made quite a few pieces now and some of them gets pretty good feedback (It's always a nice feeling when people appreciate your work.). I'll put them up later when I get them photographed.

I got started into jewellery making a few years ago when a friend of mine came to work with her creations and I fell in love with the stones. She taught me the basics in a day (after much begging and planning) at her place. Then she help me buy my first set of tools for making my own pair of earrings. The rest as they said is history.

Then I met Aunty Janet who attended a Chinese knot class with me. She introduced me to all the wonderful places to get my stones. She also help refined some of my techniques. She is fabulous with her hands and she has really beautiful handmade jewellery! I hope when I get back to home again I can get more tips from her.

I wonder if I can find courses on jewellery making here...

Another Lazy Weekend in Perth

Went for Tai ji yesterday morning in Balcatta and then went for lunch at Northbridge. I enjoy going to Northbridge on a Saturday as parking is free after 12. Otherwise parking in the city is very expensive. One thing you have to be careful is to read the sign of when there is free parking as I learnt it the hard way. I parked at Brisbane St thinking that it is the same as at William St but parking charges apply for Sat and Sun too at Brisbane St and I got a ticket for $60.

Anyway we went to Quan An Viet Hoa Vietnamese Restaureant (Unit 1, 249 William St Northbridge) for lunch. There are many Vietnamese restaurants but it is one of the more popular one around. When you go there for lunch or dinner, it tends to be quite crowded but the good thing is that it is big and the turnover is pretty fast. I had my usual Beef and Beef ball noodles while my wife had the Chicken Hofan soup. I had the durian shake and I really enjoyed it. Durians is definitely what I missed in Perth although you can get frozen ones but it is expensive.

After lunch we went to the butcher across the street to get some pork as we have some friends coming over for lunch and I thought that I would make bak kut teh. Personally I prefer going to a vietnamese or chinese butcher as the pork doesn't seem to smell as bad but the services there isn't great. I asked the butcher to help me chop the ribs into smaller pieces but he refuses saying that there is no need as it is easy to cut, I definitely don't get that kind of nonsense at the butcher at Canning market or Coles/Woolworth.

Went to the library after that and one thing I like is that the library seems to be always open. I think they are opened everyday at least till 5. Except on Public Holiday. I am reading David Weber's Harrington Series and of course my usual graphic novels. I just found out that I can get all of David Weber's older Harrison books on CDs or download them for free but I still prefer reading a book. Less strenous on my eyes. There are others besides David Weber as long as the authors are from Baen.

2nd haircut in Perth

Called Skatt in the morning and made an appointment with them to try their haircut in the afternoon yesterday. The first look on the outside of the shop is not eye-catching at all. The interior is a different story. It's minimalist, sleek and clean looking. They have the whole works here from tanning to facial to cosmetics. The counter staff was very cheery and polite. Got me to fill in a form and then got another staff to bring me for a tour of the place. Before the commencement of the tour, I was asked if I preferred coffee or the different selection of teas. I asked for a green tea.

As my hairdresser was still with another customer, I was asked to wait for a while and they even asked me if I needed a magazine. When I got seated, tea was served. Didn't need to wait for long for my hairdresser to attend to me. She's a trainee, graduating in a couple of months. She washed my hair then asked for my preference on hair length, style, parting and if I would like to wear the cut straight or curled.

She's pretty good with her scissors and the shape was out in about 10 minutes. Then she blow dry my hair and started taking some bulk off my heavy hair. Finally, she got the hot curler to get the curls in and that's how I look about 3 hours after.

The experience was really nice and you really felt well taken care off, pampered. But the shock came at the end...

I was charged $79 for the cut. (I thought it was free on Mon and Tue when the trainee does the cutting?!) I guess it's really my fault too to assume that all this pampering is free. I didn't ask for the price after I walked in the shop before I sat down for the cut. Lesson learnt! An expensive one though (heart ache!).

List of places for haircuts

Saw this on A Current Affair which is a current affairs program after the news on Channel 9. Definitely fantastic as haircuts in Australia can be quite expensive. Some of the information taken are from ACA and I'll add more as I visit and find more places myself.

Skatt 9227 1334, 38 Roe St, Northbridge
Free haircuts and hair up styles on Mondays and Tuesdays in Northbridge salon with apprentices, color is $20.You have a trainee doing your hair but they are supervised closely by a trainer.
Tried the place on a Monday. It definitely wasn't free but I guess I didn't check with them first. It was a trainee who cut my hair and it still costs me $79. The trainee was good though.

Fusion Hair Hay St, Piccadilly Arcade.
They offer cut and blow dries from $15, with colour from $20 and foils from $15.

TAFE 9267 7500 Loxton St Balga and Lloyd St, Midland
Open 8-3:30 daily. *Services may vary depending on what students are learning, and the salons are CLOSED during school holidays.

Beauty Palace 9328 7470 2/349 William St, Northbridge.
Tuesdays get 10% off. Haircuts $34 for blow-dry and cut

Just Cuts different locations
Men’s and women’s cuts $25

Salon Express different locations
Men's cuts from $16.50
Women's cuts from $19.50

Tried this myself at the Westfield Carousel branch. You just have to pick a number and when your number will be called when it's your turn. Your stylists will then advice you of the price after you tell them what you want to do which is great. I hate it when after the cut you get a big shock when the bill comes. Nothing fanciful, just a quick snip and actually quite satisfied with it.

Beading and Craft Fairs

Craft work is BIG here and I really mean Big. The number of craft fairs here is an indication. Since moving here, I've been to at least 3 big fairs (not taking note of other smaller fairs within the different suburbs) in Perth Convention Centre and Claremont Showground. (I will try and put up a list of bead suppliers and craft fairs later.)

I'm into beading so these fairs not only gives me ideas for my jewellery designs but also the source for my raw materials. It is not easy to get natural stones and sliver and goldfill findings here. There are more bead shops over the eastern states. So, these fairs brings together some of the local and eastern states suppliers. (Hurray!!)

I always believe that you need to feel and look at the stones you are buying and I can spend a whole afternoon looking and touching the stones on display. (I will always end up with some stones to add to my growing collection somehow!!) Finding a good supplier here locally is a challenge (still is) so I thought I should try doing online purchase but a disappointing online purchase just reinforce my belief of touchy feely before buying.

I saw this string of beautiful mix coloured stones (citrine, topaz to name a few) on a online shop and they were on sale. On top of that some of the goldfill findings (hard to find!!) were also on sale. So, I was really overjoyed to be able to get my hands on them. It was a long one and a half week wait for my purchase and when they finally arrived in the mail I was jumping like a jack-in-a-box. On opening the package, the findings were as I had expected and they look really sweet. But, when I took a look at the stones, they did not turn out the way it was shown on the photos... I felt so cheated! Now, I'll only do online buying when I get recommendations from good suppliers I have tried.

List of Weekend markets in Perth

I enjoy going to weekend markets as the things are definitely cheaper and it's a good way to while the day away. You can always find something to buy and eat there. I'll update the list as I find new ones. They are usually opened only from Fridays to Sundays and Public Holidays.

Fremantle Market Corner of Henderson St & South Tce, Fremantle, Western Australia.
I think it's the oldest of its kind in Perth and one of the best. It's one of those places that is a must visit for tourists. There are basically 2 halls, one specialising in selling vegetables and fruits and the other consists of shops that sell from things like crystals to cds to soaps. There's food and drinks to be had there too but there's also a Asian theme foodcourt just opposite of it. On the weekends, there'll be buskers just outside of the market.

Wanneroo Market 33 Prindiville Drive Wangara
Not a really touristy place but if you are seriously really looking at buying vegetables and fruits, you can't beat this place. There's more than 8 different shops selling vegies and the prices are at some of the best you can find in Perth. There's also 2 different food court, and a number of shops that ranges from a pet shop to kitchenware shops to a shop that sell herbal plants. This is the place I'll go to when I need to buy a lot of vegies but the down side is that I couldn't find a fishmonger or a butcher, I may be wrong as I still haven't investigated every nooks there are yet.

Subiaco Market, 52 Station Street, Subiaco
I'll come here if I don't have time to go up to Wanneroo and I'm in town. The prices are comparable but I prefer Wanneroo as it is more spacious. The place is smaller but the variety of fresh vegies and fruits are just as good. There's also a food court here too and I like it because they are not what you'll see at other shopping centres foodcourt. I like the golzeme that they serve here.

Malaga Market, Corner Alexander Drive & Beach Road, Malaga
I like the atmosphere here as it seems to be more for a family outing. There are 3 pavilions with the centre pavilion having a food court and the other 2 selling all types of things like jewellery to handicrafts. They have a singer performing during lunch time to keep things lively and for those who are music deaf, there's a big screen tv at the foodcourt too.

Lazy weekend and weekend markets

Intend to spend this Sunday doing nothing but playing video games, reading and just enjoy staying at home. Sometimes it does get tiring running around everywhere to try and experience and enjoy Perth over the weekend. There's always too many places and things to do and so little energy and time.

Anyway went to Tai Chi lesson at Balcatta yesterday morning. Nowadays we go twice a week and it is definitely good fun and exercise. I guess the important thing about practising Tai Chi or any other forms of martial arts is that you practise at home too and not just when you go for lessons, this way you will definitely pick it up faster and the muscles will get use to a the weird movement that we have to do.

After Tai Chi, we went to one of the weekend markets that can be found all around Perth. This is a new one that we found. The weekend markets only open from Friday to Sundays and Public Holidays. They will definitely have shops that sells vegetables and fruits and these places are definitely cheaper than the supermarkets. There will be other shops that sells almost anything that you might want including things for tourists and the locals. The one we went to is Malaga Market which can be found on the corner of Alexander Rd and Beach Road, Malaga. It is divided into 3 pavilions, the East and West end contains shops that sells things from beads & findings to cooking wares. In the Centre Court, there's a food court and during lunch time, they had a singer performing and a clown going around making animal balloons for the kids. I guess compared to the other markets, this is definitely more catered to the family with children. The greengrocers and butcher can also be found in the centre court.

After getting all our vegetables and fruits for the weekend, went back home to put the things away and then we had to go to attend a meeting a JAFWA. It stands for Japanaese Fan Animation of Western Australia. It is a group of people interested in Japanese animation that gather every weekend at Curtin University to watch anime. They will screen anime from the past to the latest offerings that was recently shown in Japan. Yesterday we watched Captain Harlock (Boy does it bring back memories) Chi's Sweet Home to Seirei no Moribito. You pay $5 for non-members and they will show different animes from 5 pm to 11 pm with break for dinner. Not to bad a deal actually. Didn't stay till the end as we had to rush back home to watch something else.

Even back in Singapore, I've been a TV fanatic and the same goes for here. Instead of watching the local programs, I'll go online to hunt for shows like 超级星光大道 and 国光帮帮忙to watch. I guess we still want to stay in touch with things Chinese and you don't really get much of Chinese TV here only once a while on SBS1 and SBS2. I found 2 good sites so far for it and they both use YouTube for them. One is 综艺Deculture and the other is 爱看大观园. They have other Chinese TV programs and they update them religiously almost every day.

List of Food places in Perth

I thought that I would just come up with lists of different things that I will update as I visit those places and since I love food. I'll start off with it.

Burgers/American style Diners
Jus Burger - 743 Newcastle st, Leederville.
Like the name says, they only have burgers and of course the fries or onion rings that goes along with it. Great Burgers although a bit ex. Really liked the Wagyu Burger.

Fast Eddy's - Corner of Murray Street & Milligan Street; another branch at Westfield Carousel, Albany Highway; fast food outlet at Carillon City basement, Hay St Mall.
Typical American 50s Diner. Love the Cop a lot burger. Extremely filling. Like the one at Murray St as it is opened 24 hrs.

Little Creatures - 40 Mews Road, Fremantle WA 6160
Frematle has many very good places and this is one of them. Very good food in a nice place, very informal and wash the food down with some of the best beer around. What more can you ask.

Chinese
Dim Sim Cafe - 3/297-299 William St Northbridge WA 6003 Tel: 08 9328 9388
Open daily except Wed 9.30 to 3.
Typical Dim Sum restaurant. Food is okay but nothing to shout about and I guess the price is typical.
Prices range from $3.30 to $5.80 per dish
Example: Char Siew Bun - $4.00 for 2, Siew Mai - $4.40 for 3, Char Siew Cheong Fun - $4

Dragon Seafood Restaurant - 66 - 72 Francis St Northbridge 6003 Tel 08 9227 8882
Serves Dim sum in the afternnoon and a la carte Cantonese or set for dinner. The food ain't too bad and worth visiting. For lunch, they open up the upstairs KTV lounge for dim sum as extra seatings.
Price range from $3.90 to $5.90
Example: Char Siew Bun - $4.60 for 3, Siew Mai - $4.60 for 3, Char Siew Cheong Fun - $4.60

G'Fun On the right along South St on the way to Fremantle (9 am - 7 pm daily)
Specialises in Chicken rice and for $4, it's definitely a steal and the food is good too. They have different types of chicken and they sell char siew pao, dai pao and lor mai kai too.

Food Courts
There's a typical food court at almost every big shopping centre like Westfield. The stalls almost always seem to be the same in that they will have at least 1 Asian/Chinese food, Japanese, a McDonalds or Burger Kings, Subway, Fresh and Natural, Bucking Beef and others. Prices are almost the same everywhere.

Carillon City - Hay St Mall
It has 2 food court. One in the basement and the other on Level 3. The food ranges from fast food to asian so everyone's taste should be catered for. Food price is typical food court prices. You can get a meal for around $10 plus a drink.

Westfield Carousel - 1382 Albany Highway

Spencer Village Food Court - Spencer Road, Thornlie
Has about 10 different stalls selling Asian food only. Looks resemble a KL food court and the food ain't too bad. There's one stall that serves 'or lua' and sometimes Katong Laksa. The drinks stall sells soya milk by the glass or the jug and the jug is definitley worth it. Can get durain chendol, ice kachang and ngor hiang here too. It's BYO here so in case there's any that needs to have wine with Asian food, there's no problem.


Cafe
The Dizzy Witch Cafe - 197-199 Brisbane Street Northbridge WA6003 Tel: 08 92281501
This a cosy and relaxing place for a cup of afternoon tea though they do serve lunch too. The cakes (which is different every time I'm there) is one of the best I've tasted and the cream which is whipped by the boss is heaven (especially eaten with the cake!). The wedges with 2 different dips is also good. They are generous with their tea leaves and there is always an extra pot of hot water to thin the tea if it gets too thick.


Confectionery/bakery
Corica - 106 Aberdeen St Northbridge WA 6003 Tel: 08 9328 8196
Mon - Fri - 8 - 5.30, Sat 8 - 12.30
They have one of the best apple strudels around. During summer, they have a blueberry/apple strudel which is to die for. They cost $18 each and besides apple strudels, they have other very good cake like eclairs too.


Japanese
Taka - 150 - 152 Barrack St Corner Wellington St Tel: 08 9221 4771
Mon-Sat 11 - 9, Sun 11 - 5
Cheap but good food. The portion is definitely enough for most people and it is cheap. You can get a meal plus drinks for less than $10 and they also have 2 sizes. The large serving comes with free miso soup and the Japanese tea is free. The setting reminds me more of a cafeteria but I'm not complaining as I'm there for the food and not the ambiance.

Ha Lu - Shop4/401 Oxford St, Mt Hawthorn WA 6016 Tel: 08 9444 0577
One of the better Japanese restaurants in Perth. The food is good and the service excellent. The bento take away is definitely worth it. Too bad I'm not staying near here otherwise I'll be frequenting it more often

Green Tea House - Subiaco Mews Shopping Complex, Hay St, Subiaco Tel: 08 9388 7245
Not a restaurant at all but a place to get really good Japanese green tea. Tsutomu san, the owner will be more than happy to let you try the different tea and the good thing about him is that he is more interested in sharing his knowledge of tea than selling them. There is no pressure to buy at all but like my tai chi instructor, he wanted to run into to shop and get some tea for his brother but ended up spending 45 minutes and buying a tea set too. You can't help but get caught up with his passion.

Kanta Japanese Retaurant U 7/76 Langford Ave, Langford 6147 (08) 9451 5720 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (08) 9451 5720
This is one of the best Japanese restaurant in Perth. Nothing pretentious and it reminds me of typical family run restaurants back in Japan. Their food is definitely a cut above the rest and at the end of the meal, you'll definitely feel satisfied. Don't really need reservation for lunch but definitely for dinner. There's only seating for about 18 at any one time so call before going.

Malaysian/Indonesian

Mahsuri - 313 Albany Highway Victoria Park WA 08 9362 5062
Pretty good restaurant serving Malay cuisine specialising in satays. Tried the beef and chicken satay and preferred the beef. Definitely worth a visit. Don't expect Singapore and Malaysia price though, this is Perth eating out.

Vietnamese
Quan An Viet Hoa Vietnamese Restaurant - Unit 1, 349 William Street Northbridge WA 6003 Tel: 08 93282127
Pretty good and relatively cheap vietnamese food. It gets quite crowded during lunch and dinner time. A bowl of noodles costs around $9.50 but I love the durian shake that they have. The bowl of noodles is quite big and just nice for me although a bit too much for the ladies.

Pho Que Huong Vietnamese & Chinese Noddle House - Shop 1/73 Honeywell Blvd Mirrabooka Village Shopping Centre Tel: 9248 2612
This was the first Vietnamese restaurant we went. The food was not too bad and the price was reasonable. Tried the Vietnamese coffee and didn't like it. It was way to sweet for my taste.

A lazy weekend eating burgers

Didn't go to the Good Food and Wine Show today. Woke up late and ended lazing around instead. Sent wife to the Craft, Art and Quilt show at Claremont showground and then went to city centre myself for a late lunch. Don't know why but for the last 2 days, I had a craving for burger and definitely not the McDonald's type. Went to Carillon City which have 2 food courts, one in the basement and another one on the 3rd floor. There's a Fast Eddy's outlet in the basement and had the Cop the lot burger and a chocolate milkshake. I like Fast Eddy's as it is the closest to an American style diner at Murray St and it's 24 hours. The price actually is quite reasonable and the food serving is generous. They also have another diner at Westfield Carousel at Albany Highway.

Actually I had burger yesterdayfor lunch too, that's one reason why I'm feeling kinda guilty. Too much red meat. Brought a friend to Jus Burger at Newcastle Street, Leederville. I think they have one of the best burgers in Perth and it is definitely juicy and very feeling. The onion rings ain't too bad too. I had the Wagyu beef burger and it is good. Frankly when they ask me how you want the burger to be done, you know that it's not going to be just any fast food joint's burger. The only complain is that for $14, it doesn't come with any fries. My friend had the Mullet while my wife had the Half n half. It was actually just nice for her. At $10, the burger is about half the size of their standard burgers but it comes along with a salad or chips and coleslaw. It's only offered at lunch time and it is available for beef, chicken and fish.

After picking up my wife after her show, came back and I spent my time reading and playing Fifa Online. Am currently Dragon's Wild by Robert Asprin and just found out that the author Robert Asprin passed away last year. It's a real pity as I really enjoy reading his books and if you are looking for sci-fi/fantasy plus lots of humour, you can't go far wrong with his books. The interesting thing to me is that he passed away while reading a Terry Pratchet book. I started reading his books back when I was in uni and I think I've read almost all his books as they are really hard to find in the bookshops nowadays. I'm definitely going to find time to revisit Aahz, Skeeve, Phule and the others.

Weekend approaches

Well the weekend is here again. There's a lot of activities going on over the weekend and I have to prioritise and decide what to do. When ever I hear from friends telling me that Perth is a really boring place, I am really amazed by it as I don't think so and haven't found it so. Maybe it's also depends on their interests but if you are looking for variety, sports or food, you can definitely find it. Maybe a little bit of searching or just taking note of it when ads for events come out.

Anyway, usually on every Saturday morning, we'll go for Tai chi lesson. We started Tai chi about 2 months ago. I've always been interested in martial arts and have done different types over the years but after being told by the doctor that I've to stop getting injuries or I might injured my spine more seriously, I thought that Tai chi might be a good thing. Looked around on the net and made some enquiries but no replies from the e-mails I sent out until I came across this website, Taoist Tai Chi of Australia. It's an non-profit organisation run by volunteers and the great thing is that they have different locations and for the monthly fee that you pay, you can go for as many of the lessons as you wish. The form they are doing is different from the Chen or Yang style but it was adapted by Master Moy from the Yans style of Tai chi. I found another website that is pretty good in describing the different forms and they have videos of the different forms.

This weekend, they are having the Good Food and Wine Show and it costs $30 per person. For that price, there will be celebrity master chef shows/classes, show booths, and of course wine classes. Not too bad actually. I think I'll go down on Sunday for the show but will have to negotiate with wife as she wants to go to the Craft, Art and Quilt fair that is also going on on the same day.

Furthermore, this weekend they are also having the Avon Descent which is actually an annual competiton involving all the different water sports that can be done on the river, even things like power dinghy. Will have to skip it this year as I don't think I can be at so many places at one time. Pity though as I think that it's going to be fantastic chance for some great sports photography.