Just realised that the International Piano Festival would be held from 23 to 26 June - 2 days BEFORE I reach Singapore. Damn...and its theme this year is to commemorate Chopin's 200th birthday....which means I'm gonna miss out on quite a fair bit of Chopin-ing by awesome pianists. Damn again...

Autumn colours part 2: taken when walking back to college after lessons...and of course, some pictures were taken in college itself...

I've been spending quite a fair bit of time practicing piano - this semester there's lots of scales, arpeggios and technical work, as well as one of Bach's prelude and fugue (I'm doing G major from book 2). Next semester's gonna be more exciting though, and I'm planning to play lots of extra pieces for next semester's repertoire.

Gosh, it's already week 12 of the semester!!! And its getting colder and colder each day! On a positive sight though, this year's autumn is really, really beautiful compared to last year's. Last year's was brownish and that was about it. This year - the leaves actually turned into distinct hues of orange, red, yellow and so on. And rainy days actually accentuate the colour even more.

I've got lots and lots and lots of photos, so I'll be dividing them into 2 posts:

Autumn colours at uni (near Wilson Hall). I just happened to be walking out of the quadrangle when I saw this, so yeah, out comes the handphone camera...

This was taken on my way to zoology prac. The building is part of the Land and Food Resources faculty, I reckon. Now this area is simply flooded with leaves, leaves and more leaves. The leaves just go "crunch" when we walk across the pavement...and there seems to be more and more each day.

Maples outside the Old Arts building in uni. I took this when I was going for psychology lecture.

I took a de-tour the other day and found this entire wall of bright red leaves. And of course, a spider with a really well-spun web amongst these...

More autumn colours outside uni (near my college). These trees shed their leaves pretty fast though, and they were one of the first few to go bare...

And this is what I enjoy looking at everyday, when I walk back from uni! An entire tree of bright red leaves, with some orange leaves in between!!! Outside the sports centre, near the track. I think there're 3 of them, but only one has turned completely red/orange. The others are still turning slowly (but steadily).

I had to zoom in specially for this shot, coz I only happened to see it on my way to uni today. Of course, the picture quality isn't too good with a handphone camera, but yeah, even the leaves in the various households are changing colour. I took quite a number of shots today, but will be sharing more pictures in the next post. It's really, really beautiful...

Oh, and of course - Trinity College, the college I usually cut through when walking to uni...

And to conclude: The vertebra of a macaque monkey, strung together in a "necklace" - during our zoology prac last week.

Well, I guess that's about all!! Thanks heaps for viewing, and do stay tuned for the next post! :)

Whoa, it has been really cold for the past week!! Looks like autumn has truly set in, and that winter is really fast approaching!! Most trees have started shedding leaves, and there are hues of red, orange and (mostly) yellow everywhere...especially in uni and around college. It's really beautiful.

Anyway, last weekend was pretty relaxed and stressful - I did manage to get cracking on my lab report (which is due in a fortnight!!!), but at the same time, I went for a chocolate feast in the city, and passed by the pet shop again. And these are what I found:

Adorable little shih tzu (or Maltese?) puppies. I reckon they're more shih tzu than Maltese...but they're really fluffy and cuddly. One of them kept barking at people walking by (nawwwww...!!), while the other one just sat and watched people pass by. I wish I could keep both of them - they're just so adorable and cuddly, and I simply love dogs that look like that...they really remind me of Robbie (apart from the colour).




Ah, and that's one of the puppies who looked into his reflection, and then turned away.



The kittens were equally adorable - and there were 12 of them in total, I reckon. I didn't really count, but yeah, there're usually quite a number of kittens in the shop.

One of the kittens in the left enclosure. He/She's really beautiful - with black and white fur (which reminds me of Figaro in Walt Disney's version of Pinocchio), and a cute lil' pink nose. And not to mention, he/she was one of the most photogenic kittens - always rolling over and posing for pictures...and staying still for us to take pictures of him/her. He/She was pretty active too, and was still rolling around when the other kittens were asleep. This was my favourite kitten for the day....



2 of the kittens facing each other. The one in the background was a really pretty one...



A close up shot of the kitten in the background of the previous picture. He/She was just sitting there, looking around...while the others played and wrestled...



I like this shot a lot. The kitten in the background was really, really naughty - he/she was basically playing and rolling around with his/her playmates the entire time, and was really active. This picture is solid proof of his/her mischief of course - staring over his/her playmate's shoulder when his/her playmate was sleeping. Of course, the sleeping black kitten was pretty active too, and was also play-wrestling before he/she got really sleepy...

I reckon that the kitten in the background was thinking, "Hmmmm...Kat (the black kitten) is asleep...what tricks should I play on him/her???"

Or maybe he/she got startled when I took a picture, and hence that explains his/her wide eyes?



Apparently not. The kitten in the background of the previous picture was staring over his/her playmate's shoulder all the while. So yeah, I guess he/she's just trying to be naughty, but at the same time, he/she's being curious of the stuff going around him/her - especially the people passing by. And some photographers who were so intrigued by these adorable little kittens. I dunno anything about animal psychology, but I reckon that's what he/she was thinking.

And not to mention, my favourite kitten of the day in the foreground, before he/she started rolling over and posing for pictures...



And that concludes yet another visit to the pet shop!! I don't really go to the pet shop deliberately, but whenever I go to Melbourne Central, I've this really high tendency to pass by. And yeah, hopefully the next time I pass by again, there'll be more adorable animals, especially Shih Tzu puppies - awwww I love Shih Tzu puppies!!!!!

Do stay tuned for the next post!!!! :D Thanks heaps for viewing!!

The picture above was taken around last month, when I was passing by the pet shop. These 8-week-old kitten sisters were really, really close - when they were separated from each other, the one in the enclosure kept meowing and trying to get out, and when her sister was returned to the enclosure, the 2 of them snuggled up and rubbed against each other...NAWWWW....

I reckon (and hope) that the kittens were sold together - they were on sale when I passed by the shop. I can't imagine them being separated from each other, coz they were really close, despite their frequent play-fighting. Oh, and not to mention, they had beautiful eyes too. They were really, really active though, and it was pretty hard getting a good shot of them.

I did pass the pet shop about once or twice again, and managed to capture more pictures. They had 12 kittens today, I think, but these kittens were really, really playful. And they had little fluffy puppies and 2 Jack Russell Terriers in the neighbouring enclosures...I'll post some pictures in a later post.

For now, I'd like to share some Yum Cha pictures from Oriental Tea House. Yes, food photos again, but these were meant to be shared ages ago...blame it on my hectic schedule - tests and assignments due, heaps of piano practice (which I enjoy of course!)...

The very first clear soup I had in months: wonton soup. It was really delicious but tasted slightly different from the wonton soup I have at home. Probably because of the ingredients...Chinese food in Australia tend to taste differently...

We then ordered a few dishes following the soup, as shown below:

1. Dumplings (I think these had chives and pork in it)

2. Siew Mai (another type of dumplings)

3. Xiao Long Bao (or Shanghai dumplings as the restaurant describes it)
4. Unwrapped sticky rice - it was absolutely gorgeous...

Dessert was also really good, especially the chocolate-filled pastries with the ice cream, and the heart-shaped mango pudding. Oh, and not to mention, we had really good tea too...

We actually found this lamp studded with mahjong tiles in the restroom too...

Last but not least, the tea-tasting station right at the entrance. I had ginger and lemongrass tea that day, and we actually went round tasting the different types of tea (and nearly bought some!). Each station had a description of what the tea represents and the ingredients they put in - for example, there was raspberry-tasting tea, and pu-er tea of course...

And that concludes the Yum Cha adventure! I reckon it was about 2 or 3 weeks ago? Before both my neighbour and I had heaps of assignments to do...It was a really good lunch though it was costly.

Thanks heaps for viewing and do stay tuned for the next post!!! :D

Melbourne has weird and unpredictable weather - yesterday it was so bright and sunny, and today it's so gloomy. Gosh, I wish we had more bright and sunny days like last month!!!

I can't believe it's already May. And I can't believe our exam time table will be released tomorrow (excluding my music subjects of course). In about a months' time, I'll be sitting in the Royal Exhibition Building, having those dreaded exams. And I'll be sitting in an examination room, playing my Bach prelude and fugue to 2 examiners. Jeez...

But on a brighter note, it means that holidays are coming. I can't wait to get home - weather's heaps better, food's heaps better...in short, home is still the best.

Anyway to start off, here's a picture taken on the way to rock climbing...



Some early signs of autumn - yellow/red/orange leaves (which are not too obvious yet). It was really bright and sunny when I took the 2 pictures below, and it was kinda odd coz it was really warm (and nice) too...





Even the leaves of the climbing plants on one of the buildings has started to turn from green to bright red. I haven't passed this spot since, but I guess the entire wall should be bright red by now.




More autumn pictures on the way back to college, and near the sports complex (last picture).




I guess this is about all for now. Do stay tuned for the next post yeah? Thanks heaps for reading, and really sorry for being on hiatus for a while! :)