Chinese New Year

In an attempt to be a good Chinese daughter, I rang the folks this morning and cheerily wished them a Happy Chinese New Year (after mentally deciding against trying to pronounce Gong Xi Fa Chai, Wan Shi Ru Yi).

That was met with silence, followed by "umm, it's not New Year yet..."

I cringe yet again at my un-Chineseness and wonder why I haven't been disowned.

Well we kept chatting anyway and here are some good parts of the convo to help me forget the naggy and disapproving bits heee :)

Me: so what are you both planning to get up to today?
Mum: cleaning and sorting. Just told your father to sort out his wardrobe.
Me: but you've both been sick for weeks, just rest and get better
Dad: [in the background] yah, *indistinct mumbling* *giggles*

Mum: I've been feeling dizzy

Me: oh. hmmm

Mum: yah hmmm

Me: maybe it's due to low sugar levels

Mum: I've always had high sugar

Me: yeah I know, but it could be low sug....

Mum: no no I've always had high sugar

Me: ok

Mum: I think I've been playing too much computer games

This somehow reminded me of some screen shots that my sister took in 2010. This is what we often have to deal with when on Skype with the parents:

no faces

Mum pretending to listen but her eyes are on the TV. Dad forgets we are here

They eventually become fully engrossed in the tv show, discussing the plot and such

Well being Chinese New Year and all, I wanted to get in the spirit and put up some pics from earlier in 2011 when the folks were in Perth. They were showing us kids how to make lanterns using red packets / ang pows :)

Happy Chinese New Year + Year of the Dragon!

♥

You never forget how to ride a bicycle

April has just flown by. Hang on...we're in April? 
Where has the time gone? 

I must've either been:
(a) extremely busy
(b) an awesome procrastinator
(c) having fun
(d) all of the above, or
(e) none of the above

The answer is more likely to be (b).

But I prefer (c).

Mum loves seeing the water

Going back in time

Feels like I should be wearing a head scarf and huge sunnies a la Audrey Hepburn

Camera in hand, I'm relying on dad to keep us upright and dry :)

Mum and sis going way too fast

Quad-cycle

Fun. Brought to you by About Bike Hire.

Yeah, DEFINITELY prefer (c).

♥

The hills are alive

waterless waterfall

It was a public holiday on Monday and we had a family outing in the Perth hills. First stop, John Forrest National Park, off Great Eastern Highway. As we got out of the car, two kangaroos hopped across the car park... they were the only animals we would see for the rest of the day.

We decided to take the Heritage Trail to check out a waterfall and tunnel. We'd been warned that there was no water at the waterfall but I didn't mind, I was actually excited about the idea of standing on rocks that would normally have water gushing over it.

Plants in dry, desert-y, muted greens and grasstrees flanked the trail. Every step was accompanied by the crunch of loose rocks and pebbles underfoot and calm blue skies overhead.

2.2km later, we found refuge in the Swan View Tunnel. It was a little eerie but the echo of our voices soon drowned everything out. Bits of the train track were visible through the ballast and I could sense history in those walls. 

We rested and recharged soon after, and trudged back to base. I'd love to be back again when wildflowers are in bloom and to take on the other trails. 

After lunch in Mundaring a.k.a. the heart of the hills, we visited idyllic Mundaring Weir. The dam is a magnificent structure and the view from the dam wall was breathtaking, best enjoyed in silence...

After a bit of camwhoring, we headed home via the Zig Zag in Kalamunda. It's a scenic drive that provides a panoramic view of Perth. The roads are narrow and there are a few hairpin turns. 

I can now understand how things might get even more exciting and hair-raising here late in the night.

An awesome day trip to places I'd never been to! :)
♥

Marketing

So the folks arrived on Monday for a 3-month visit.
That night, mum asked if we could go "marketing" a.k.a. grocery shopping, so that she could start cooking amazing meals for us. 

Well Perth is a little behind the times in terms of extended trading hours, but my sister recalls hearing about Spud Shed. It sits on Federal land and isn't subject to the State's trading hour laws, so it gets to stay open 24/7. 

We searched for this magical place and found it in Jandakot, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

There were ridiculous amounts of fruit

and plenty of chlorophyll-ed veggies :)

It was meaty and cheesy

and nuts were scoop-a-licious

I saw Halloween-ness

 And jaundice-ness

 I liked the uniformity

and raw rusticness

Dad and sis were taking turns posing with and pushing this giant shopping trolley

And mum was busy picking all the goodies to fill it

This all happened after 10pm, long after most shops have shut. 
We had a ball!

♥