Holiday time!

My travels with work were rudely interrupted with an overseas holiday to Manila and Hong Kong. Hahaha.

Manila was a new place for me. I was a bit restricted as to where I could/would travel alone for fear of my own safety, however that didn't hamper me from indulging in shopping, sleeping and a 4 hour session of body scrubbing, facials, manicure, pedicure and massage. Oh, and also blackening my lungs with the crisp, polluted Phillipine air.

The main issue with Manila is that it's very difficult to find any decent, healthy food. I resorted to eating Delifrance, Teriyaki Boy and some other Delifrance-style cafe only cos they were the only places that didn't serve deep fried chicken and spaghetti bolognaise (yes, they serve that on the same plate). Maybe I just wasn't in the right area, but all shopping centre food courts consisted of retailers selling all sorts of deep fried foods - you can get kang kong fried!. I admit I ate some Chicharon (deep fried crispy pork crackling), it was yummy for a second but a huge sense of guilt overcame me.

I didn't get too camera happy here, but here's a pic of me outside of SM Mall of Asia. It claims to be the 3rd largest mall in the world. It wasn't quite complete so unfortunately not all the stores were open.

Another thing about Manila is that everything is so cheap! Ralph Polos were ranging from $10-15!!!! I ended up buying about 5 cos it was cheaper to buy a new one than have it laundered at the hotel. There's a strong possibility the polos were fake, but I did buy them at a department store, albeit a dodgy one.

Here's me trying on a pair of shoes in Vincci. I bought 5 pairs of shoes! Not all Vinnci though. Ok, so 4 from Vinnci and one from Zara. Two pairs were thongs which I needed while traipsing around Manila, hence my purchase was completely justified. Hehehe, when in Asia, females must always visit Vinnci for their "disposable-wear-them-once-questionable-quality shoes". Oh, but what am I talking about? There's a few VNC (same thing, different name) stores in Sydney now. But c'mon, as if you want to pay for something that retails about 1/4 the price in Asia.

Wave Rock

Talk about lack of commitment. Even with this brand new laptop and personal internet connection to my apartment in Adelaide, I still haven’t finished talking about my stay in Perth.

Anyhow, another touristy thing I insisted on doing was to visit Wave Rock. It’s some sort of nature’s sculpture, made from granite and shaped by wind and water. Quite pretty and spectacular but there is little else to do in the area.

Regardless, I was the youngest person on the tour – mind you I’m on the other side of 25, but the average age of the rest of the tour members was around 55 years. I think the next tour I take should be Contiki style.

Anyway, a few photos as evidence of my time at Wave rock.

The real rabbit proof fence. Yes, this was Australia’s way of preventing the bunny invasion from the east coast. I thought like Bugs Bunny, rabbits could burrow underground?

The Dog Cemetery

Here lies Scooby.

And err, Mandy?

Hippotamus Yawn. It really does look like a yawning hippo!

Our tour guide. Sorry for being cynical, but I masked his identity because I have doubts about him wearing indigenous face paint outside of tour hours.

Wave Rock. So pretty.

Papa and I being silly.

Papa trying to stop the wave alone.

Perth Trains

Perth trains are really clean. They're all brand new and are nearly always close to empty. I took this foto with my fone and it was 6pm at night. Perth people are really friendly too! They're all very polite - clearly something I am not used to.

A bit of a pointless thought, but a comparison to east coast trains nonetheless.

The Pinnacles

Travelling around Australia, it's obligatory to do something remotely touristy. RP and I decided to go and visit the Pinnacles, which consists of limestone(?) structures formed in the desert.

Included in the tour was a stop by the petting zoo. Not that I haven't seen any native animals before, but it seemed this was more for the pleasure of the Japanese tourists. Feeding kangaroos was quite fun, cos they're like cute mutant dogs nibbling treats from your hand. Tee hee - kinda tickles. The baby ones are so cute!

As you can see, I'm enjoying myself there.

"The Pinnacles" - I did read the information booklet describing how they formed, but it was in one ear and out the other. Something to do with tree roots, sand and wind.

Me sitting on a flat Pinnacle.

RP and I.

Me doing something seriously touristy. But hey, it kinda did look like Jaws and I didn't want to regret the opportunity to do something retarded.

Again, doing something stupid. You gotta realise unless you do something silly, all my photos would have looked the same!

The tour guide said this was the largest Pinnacle. No smutty jokes here.

Oh no! It's falling!

This one supposedly looks like a kangaroo. I had to use my imagination a bit in order to picture it, so I've outlined some bits to help you guys along. There were a few other Pinnacles which resembled geisha, lions and various other figures but it was really pushing my rather vivid imagination.

Our day ended with a sand boarding tour. The sand was so white and powdery, almost like snow.

Me being touristy again.

RP and I being stupid.

Sandboarding. If you fell off, all you got was sand in your mouth and clothes.

Some random shots.

Jacob's ladder. A flight of stairs leading up to King's park in Perth. I got sore hamstrings! Need to work out at the gym more.

Perth CBD. It's actually a bit smaller than what it looks.

My New Apartment

After staying one night in the horrid place, my friend RP helped me find new accommodation. For those who don't know RP studied with me at uni and was also in Perth for work.

Anyway, here's a pic of my first dinner in the new apartment - two packets of Mi Goreng. Hey, I didnt have time to buy proper food just yet. The most tragic part was that I forgot to pack chopsticks and I had to eat it with a fork. There's a first time for everything!

Now, onto the pics of my new apartment, where I happily stayed for the remainder of my Perth rendezvous.

The lounge room. It's clean, well except for all my junk.

The kitchen. A bit small, but cosy nonetheless.

The bedroom. Mmmmmmm comfy.

The bathroom. Much nicer eh? It still had a psycho-like shower, but at least it was clean.

Missing light bulbs

Ok, technically I'm in Adelaide now, but I haven't finished talking about Perth yet. Anyway, I managed to upload a pic taken from my fone, so apologies for the poor quality. It's a pic of the missing light fixtures. I want halogen lights in my accommodation! I assume that this apartment was serviced before I checked in, so I dont understand the lack of bulbs.