=p actually, I arrived back early
this morning at about 0020h... Nearly did not make it onto the flight, because
Qantas, the carrier that we used for all the domestic flights, messed up on the
flight out from Canberra to Sydney… First they cancelled our 1350h flight.
Instead of giving us priority on the next available flight, we were put on the
1455h one, which was delayed for close to an hour, departing only at 1600h!
While we did arrive in Sydney with an hour to spare, the bloody inter-terminal
bus transport, was operating at 20minutes interval and the bus driver was
happily sitting in his bus reading the sports pages!!
The bosses I was travelling with, were really calmed about the
whole time though. Even when we have less than 40 minutes to get to the
international terminal, they were still joking about getting someone to hold the
boarding gates open (one of our delegation member managed to get
himself on the earlier flight and had arrived before we)… someone even
joked that he cannot be lying down in front of the plane, because the plane will
be reversed out… if he was to lie down, it will have to be infront of the back
wheels… lolxxxxx
We did finally made it to the gates,
with about 2 minutes to spare before the gates were closed… I think it was the
first time SQ ground staff had to deal with a situation whereby 8 passengers
were so close to missing the plane and one other passenger was at the gates,
playing diplomat and telling them to hold the plane for us….
Finally reached home at about 0020h,
had to stop for MacNuggets as I somehow was starving… slept at about 0300h,
after starting the DL on all the shows that I had missed… and did not rose from
my all too lovely pillows until about 1200h…
Trip wise, this was a damn good business trip - as in, I
did not expect to get so many things wrapped up and ready to proceed on! Fun
wise?
Wahahahaha!! I would be kidding
everyone and myself if I had said that this was a fun trip. Canberra ley... it
is such a properly designed and structured business, cum governmental
administrative city that they don't even have people walking dogs in their
parks... well at least I don't see anyone walking any each time I am there. We
used to joke during previous trips there, that the dogs were so bored that they
want to stay home... lolxxxxxx Ok, it is me
being horrid and evil... XDDD
Firstly, the flight over was
WONDERFUL! For me, but not for SQ... the senior air stewardess commented that
she had never ever seen such a low number of passengers on the flight... I
practically had the entire cabin to myself... lolxxxxxx... it was better than
Business Class air travel
I tried to take a photo of me lying across the entire row
of seats, tucked in warmly amidst 2 layers of blankies and 3 pillows… but, the
cabin lights were to dim for me to properly capture the picture..
The point is, I got to sleep well!! The fact that I got
to watch
, and found this on the “On-Demand” music playlist
, had nothing to do with me declaring the flight to be
absolutely great… the fact that
was programmed to be the only album on my in-flight play
list also had nothing to do with my joy of flying to Australia… XDDDD Oh and I did a really crazy thing… I played Boku no Miteiru Fuukei on my
iTouch and All the Best Album on the in flight entertainment system… plug into
one ear, the earphone from my iTouch and into the other ear, the earphone from
the in-flight unit….simply because I wanted to have All The Best of Boku no
Miteiru Fuukei mah…. lolxxxxx
I am happy simply because I am
person who can find joy in simple little things… like having my first pie -
since arriving in Australia (^v^ me and my pie obsession!)
while waiting in transit in Sydney… and if you believed that, then
you should also believe that I like Akanishi Jin and was upset that he left
KATTUN and thinks that KATTUN should start performing at Kokuritsu too… and did
all of you enjoyed the snow storm in Changi yesterday?
XDDDDDDDD
Anyway, the weather was freaking
cold the moment we landed into Canberra. Sydney was nice and sunny, but
Canberra greeted us with cold and neery weather, 6 degrees going onto 3 degrees
and then dipping into the negative in the evening... I was glad that I had my
scarf with me when I got out of the plane - I only had on a wool cardigan and my
coat was in the luggage. The first thing to do, was of course exchange
pleasantries to our host who had so kindly driven out in the cold weather to the
airport to receive us and to send us to the hotel... after which, we collected
our luggage... Hahahaa... as usual, mine was easy to spot... not many business
travelers use purple (to be specific pastel purple) luggage. =p
The first thing to do, of course was
to check in to the hotel… it was Crowne Plaza again…
the rooms were ok,
but this hotel is kinda of old… so… ergh… to me, the
pampered one (only during business trips),this kinda like… well… anyway, the
location is excellent, just minutes from the city center… then again, Canberra
is so small, nearly everything is just minutes or within walking distance to the
city center… lolxxxxx …
<---- My second pie since arriving in Australia ^0^
yummy!!!
And given that I am in Australia,
and I had time to spare before the official dinner at night, how can I give up
precious time!!
Yes! I went and paid homage to my
greatest fashion (Australian specific) love
They were having a fantastic sale – on top of the
50%storewide, many items had an additional 30% discount slapped on them… and for
full priced items, as long as it is more than A$80, you get A$25 off the price
tag… @.@ Well, obviously this, plus the visit to the JAG store
located within the Direct Factory Outlet 2 hours before departure from
Canberra, burnt a really big hole in my bank account… I did not want to
leave Canberra with any regrets ^o^
After a quick change, it was time
for dinner, which was LOVELY!!! At least this time, they did not
bring us back to Ottoman's… I mean, it was a great restaurant… but really, after
3 times, I don’t really want a 4th time eating Turkish food at the same
place… Of course, I had to whip out me trusty little camera to snap away…
with a bit of a difference this time… ^v^ I tried snapping at my pictures with a
“touch” of style… too much Food Channel…

First, the teaser… which is really a small tasting sample
of really rich and sweet pumpkin soup given a classy french sounding name… next
came the real appetizer
I love the caviar border.. >.<
Then, my main course… which comprised a cow cheek pie, with a 90-day corn feed
beef steak accompanied by crispy potato balls (I can’t remember what they called
it on the menu)
This photo did not do justice to the actual tenderness and
juiciness of the steak!! I was smacking my lips all the way (I mean
figuratively… harrow, I have proper training in the table manners and formal
dining etiquettes one hor !!)
I had to order the vanilla creme
brulee with wild berries, cause I always have a soft spot for creme brulee… ^ v
^ it did not disappoint… but before that, the chef decided to once again tease
our taste buds with one of his new creation for spring… mandarin sorbet…
Someone arrest that man and lock him up for FOOD!! He
committed serious crime!! One should not be allowed to get away with such a
heavenly piece of cooking!! The sweetness of the mandarin orange, with just a
slight hint of sourness, to refresh and cleanse the palate and ready it for the
real sin of a dessert…
How sinful can a innocently looking
creme
brulee get? You asked?

It is THIS SINFUL!!
I don’t even want to know what is my
weight gain after this trip!!
I did not take any pictures the rest
of the trip, as I was preoccupied with the entire meeting, which really, as I
had mentioned earlier, been really a fruitful one. I did regret not taking a
picture of the lovely muffins that they were serving us through out tea-breaks…
and also, I missed out on taking a photo of the 2 drinks jar at HMAS HARMAN’s
wardroom… one was RED, the other was
GREEN… they were placed together and
somehow, I really wanted to snap a picture and name it Sakuraba
Oh, this is totally random, but I
need to rant a bit… The happiest news that I
received while in Canberra was from ^v^ Noriko neesan, who sent me and Isumi
chan an email, saying that she had gotten the following for us…
The Wii booklet and AU Voice Special Summer booklet!! And
she still remembered that my ichiban is MatsuJun… and that’s why she
photographed it with that page and not the rest lolxxxxx she is so adorably
sweet!! Now I must think what to get for her… cos the last time I met her, she
gave me Jun coloured hair accessories… hmmm… I must crack me head and think
hard… she likes orange coloured stuff…. not green though… =p even though her
ichiban is Aiba…
Now, if only someone can tell me
what the hell was wrong with SMAP on Friday’s episode of Music Station… they all
looked so pissed… what?! cannot share stage with kouhais is it?? or they feeling
threatened?? TV Asahi was nice to them what! They also had a stage to
themselves… although I did think that TOKIO did everything they could to mention
“Arashi” at least once every 2 sentences…. ^v^ I have no doubts that TOKIO love
their Kouhais very very the muchi! ^ v ^
I had a strange but lovely dream
last night... I dreamt that I was holidaying with Jun in Tahiti, staying at one
of those lovely huts out in the middle of nowhere... @.@ But I can't remember
the rest of the dreams!!! T__T I need this dream to have a re-run!
I need
to know what I did to
Jun did to me!!