Saturday, May 8, 2010

Wen: Chinatown and the Brisbane Lions

Ling and I went to the Brisbane Chinatown in Fortitude Valley on Saturday and I got to pose with the awesome stone Lion.
Apparently a Jackie Chan movie was shot here and one of the stunts was to crash into a temple or something.  After the stunt was over, they rebuilt it and it’s sort of a mini-tourist attraction.  I’m not exactly sure where it is.. maybe we’ll find it next time!

Afterward, we met up with Feli and Minsoo to go to a Brisbane Lions vs. Fremantle an Australian Football League (AFL) game.  The game was cool because we had never gone to an AFL game before and there was definitely a festive atmosphere around.

Also, the stadium had different colored seats to give the illusion that it was filled when in reality it was only about 40% filled at the most.  I think people are more into sports in the states and these types of games would be more filled.

Headline from an article online the next day:
“Brave Brisbane Lions fall short against Fremantle at the Gabba”
and …
“UNDERMANNED, under-sized and under the pump from injuries and umpires, a brave Brisbane suffered its first-ever loss to Fremantle at the Gabba on Saturday night.”

Apparently Brisbane lost 113 to 100 But it was REALLY close!

We didn’t get to stay for the entire game because we had to catch a bus.  It was cool while it lasted though.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

ANZAC Day Aboriginal Cultural Experience and BBQ

Today was an absolutely amazing experience! Ling and I went to the Quest sponsored ANZAC Day celebration at Kangaroo Point.

Here’s the Wikipedia explanation of ANZAC Day:
“Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all those who died and served in military operations for their countries. Anzac Day is also observed in the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga.”

We passed a maritime museum and I took a picture with a turbine or something.

When the Aboriginal dances asked for volunteers to dance with them, I naturally said I would do it. It was pretty easy, but I managed to do it wrong considering I’m super uncoordinated and it was painful jumping around with bare feet.

At the BBQ, they had kangaroo and crocodile meat! The kabob I’m holding has two pieces of kangaroo meat and one piece of crocodile meat. The kangaroo meat tasted like a mixture of lamb and liver. The texture was very much like liver. Yum… jk.
The crocodile meat was like fish but much chewier. It wasn’t like fish that would just break apart in your mouth.
Apparently the crocodile meat was $40 AUD for half a kilo!

The red stuff on the plate next to me is actually beets, or they call it beet root. Australian add it to lots of stuff, like sandwiches and burgers. It’s actually pretty good as an addition.

I’m also wearing contacts to try out. They’re okay, but not THAT great… but it’s nice not smudging my glasses all the time.

We climbed this awesome tree at the BBQ park and I was afraid I was going to fall off. Nevertheless, it was an awesome tree. I couldn’t remember the last time I climbed a tree.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Wen: I went to Noosa and SURFED!

Noosa Surfing on Easter Sunday!!!

Wow, that was awesome.  We had a pretty good time hanging out in the 2 hour long bus ride.  The highlight of the ride was probably when we saw these guys drive by with the passenger sticking his legs out and chillin’.

We then visited Edmundi Markets.  Since it was Easter Sunday, there weren’t that many markets open. 

After the Markets, we went to Noosa for SURFING!  Before this trip, I had no idea what surfing was like.  I mean, I might have occasionally seen surfing scenes in movies, but those are huge waves.  I wasn’t sure how much they expected us to do in 2 hours.  Anyway.  The whole experience was awesome and I managed to stay up for like 2-3 seconds on some waves.  Of course I didn’t get any pictures of me actually standing… only waiting and falling!

Also, I understand that the goggles are really uncool, but they’re prescription!  I’m totally blind without my glasses!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Wen: Snakeskin!

Judy showed me a snakeskin that the neighbors found in their backyard yesterday.  This snakeskin is seriously long!  It’s taller than me, and the top is actually rolled… it’s got to be at least 6-7 feet long.

Anyway, the neighbors called the snake removal people and they took the actual snake away.  Pretty cool!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Wen: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Pictures on my Picasaweb Site

Yesterday I went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary with a group of students from Mates @ UQ, a campus club.  It was quite awesome, and though I left really early in the morning, the rest of the day was fantastic.
I left Indooroopilly Railway Station to Central Railway Station, which is actually in Brisbane City.  I met up with Marjorie, the coordinator for Mates @ UQ and the 5 other students!  All very cool people!
We took the train from Central to Robina, the closest train station to Currumbin Sanctuary.  From the train station, we took the bus to Currumbin and had about 2 hours to explore.
We made it just in time for the lorikeet feeding, and wow, was that amazing!  The zoo lady gave me the pan of honey and milk mixture that the lorikeets drink and a bunch flew onto the pan and my arm.  Then, more came and started landing on my other arm, shoulders and head.  At first it was cool, then it started to hurt and soon I was like, get them off!!
We walked around and saw the koalas!  They were SO cute!  Marjorie actually got a picture with one, and we got to go up and pet it–quite soft and cute!
After the koalas, we walked around and went to the baby crocodile photo taking session.  It was sort of sad to see the baby croc wiggling around while tens of people handled him/her while his/her mouth was tied closed!  Anyway, to got a pic, though it was sort of sad.  Props to Gary who decided not to because the little guy was tied up, and he thought it was wrong.
After that, we walked around and found random animals, and we ended up at a show where they taught us about typical Australian animals, including a nonpoisonous and a poisonous snake.  They had a possum at the end that we got to go up and take a picture with and pet.  It was cool looking.  They had professional photographers and printed your picture out in hope that you’d buy a picture for like $18.  I actually found the picture on the rack later on and took a picture of it. Haha!
One of the coolest parts of the trip to Currumbin was feeding the kangaroos!  They were sooooooooo cute!  There was a kangaroo with a joey in the pouch (it didn’t actually come out, unfortunately) and it was wiggling in its sleep.  So cute!
After Currumbin we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and after a long day of walking around, lunch was delicious!  I had Solo, which, after researching on Wikipedia, I found was introduced to the U.S. and it didn’t go so well.  It was okay looking and it tasted okay too… sort of like Sprite with some dull yellow coloring, more like pee colored.
We all headed to Surfers Paradise after eating and walked into the water… it was AWESOME!  The day was bright and sunny, but not unbearable.  I got to walk around and some of the other students actually went in with their swim suits and jumped into waves.
After the beach, we walked around the shops and I got a didgerydoo for Diane and a tea towel with a picture map of the Brisbane Coast.
We took a taxi to Nerang Station and headed home after a long day of fun!  Absolutely amazing… if only I didn’t have two essays and a thesis due!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Wen: Sunset in the Land Down Under

Australia is really a beautiful country.

I took these pictures when I was walking home from the bus stop. It was a warm but breezy night with misquitoes in the air. One of the little buggers bit me and now I have a misquito bite on my heel… yeah.

Anyway, enjoy the palm trees… we definitely don’t have those in Connecticut!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Wen: The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art

I finally went to something “touristy” today–the Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art.  This was for my Asian Visual Cultures class at UQ.

[[NOTE to UQBlog viewers: There is a slide show attached, you might have to follow the above link and go to the actual blog]]

Very, very interesting stuff.  Ling joined me and we had a blast!  I spent the morning looking around for some souvenirs to bring back.  My friend Sean really wanted a boomerang, so I tried to find some reasonably priced ones that were actually MADE IN AUSTRALIA!  I did find a shop on Queen Street and the largest ones were only $6.50 each!  Baller… I’m gonna bring it back to the U.S., become proficient in boomerang hunting and hunt for small wildlife.  Or not.  I also found kangaroo jerky!  At first I thought that I wouldn’t be allowed to bring that stuff back, BUT it seems that it’s cool as long as it’s sealed.  Fantastic news, I’m gonna bring it back for everyone to try.  :)  Btw, in the store, I also saw kangaroo feet key-chains and I thought that was really weird, but I guess people in the U.S. have rabbit feet for keychains… so WHY NOT!? They also had a kangaroo hide for sale.. it was a small one and was $99.  But omg, it was so soft!

Ling and I booked it to the art gallery just in time for my class’s tour conducted by Professor Morris Low.  Really quite an educated guy.  There was some very cool stuff… like the porcelain socks, LOL.  I really liked the sticker thing, and the airplanes!!!  Making the airplanes was SO FUN!  I got to play with trash and junk and make it into a dragonfly airplane.  Brings me back to the childhood days <3  Quite an incredible day… I’m planning on visiting the Queensland Museum too!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Wen: Grilled and South Bank

Last Saturday I went to a restaurant called Grilled with Dane, and it is apparently one of the restaurants that people really should visit because the food is just so good!

Well, Dane had a 2 for 1 coupon and we each ordered “The Queenslander” with 100% lean beef, beets (called beetroot, here) and even an egg. It was huge!  Omg, one of these burgers can really feed two people, I can’t even imagine how many calories one of these things is!  We also got fries with it and Schwepps sodas that were Blood Orange flavored!
The soda was delicious, and it was definitely the first time I had blood orange flavored soda.  Although, I think it just tasted like regular orange with some red food coloring.
Anyway, just the burger was $12!  So, in an effort to give my wallet and my waistline a rest!  But seriously, the burger was good, really good.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Wen: It’s a Gecko!

Last night, there was a cool looking gecko crawling on the window! I think it’s a gecko, if not, then I’ll just say “lizard.”

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Wen: I got my Brisbane City Library card today!

So I finally got my library card today! I brought ID and a letter addressed to my residence (my bank card) and got it on the spot!

So far, I’ve only used it for the Internet access which is only 60 minutes a day! Good thing I have Internet at home!

Anyway, I tried to find the novels we’re reading in English class, and none of them were available! I think all the uni students had the same idea I had…