Celebrating Birthday & Wedding Anniversary Twice!

It’s not often that one has the privilege of celebrating birthday twice within a year. This year, I was given such rare treatment, first in Perth and then in Singapore.

Well before the pre-birthday celebration in Perth, my grandson had been telling me that he would take me to eat in “The Last Drop”. Indeed, this pub and brewery serves good food and each dish is served with exceptional quantity. We had a very sumptuous dinner of pork knuckle, chilli mussels and German sausages. The dinner ended with the staff bringing out a birthday cake and serenading the birthday boy with the “Happy Birthday Song”.

That celebration surely will be remembered for a very long time…..

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For the celebration in Singapore, we were taken to The Candlenut at Dorsett Hotel. We were treated with a unique dining experience of Peranakan or nyonya food. The chef besides his emphasis in originality, also puts in special effort in the presentation of every dish. Unfortunately, Jun Shi could not join us for this great meal.

No birthday celebration is complete without pieces of cake and a candle.

Starter: Kueh pie tee, warm minced pork relish, grilled spiced marinated satay and tumbuk prawn.

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Chap chye braised cabbage and grilled king tiger prawn.

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Rawson soup of beef cheek and wok-fried spicy baby squid.

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Braised pork belly and Candlenut’s signature cendol. 
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We took advantage of our trip to Singapore to buy a pair of rings to commemorate our 37th wedding anniversary.

Revisit of Perth Zoo

Two years ago, we visited Perth Zoo without my grand-daughter Gracie because she wasn’t born yet (Read here).

We thought the kids would surely loved the elephant show in the Zoo. As it turned out, both Nathan and Gracie were not particularly amused by the antics and tricks performed by the elephants. What these elephants could do was world of a difference compared to those elephants we saw in the Elephants Sanctuary in Chiang Mai in Thailand (Read here). Some suggested that this “failure” to bring out their optimum potential could be the result of the Aussies not wanting to exert too much stress onto the elephants in their training.

Similar to the training of the animals, the question occasionally comes to our thought in raising children is: what level of stress should be exerted onto the children so as to uncover their optimum capability. In Southeast Asian countries, we are often accused of exerting too much stress while in some western societies, could it be too little? Fortunately, we have passed that milestone and this is no longer an issue we have to confront with!

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Clearly Gracie was fascinated by the many animals she saw. But in comparison, food was still the central attraction.

Picnic at Bibra Lake Park, Perth

The black swans and wild ducks reminded me of Windermere, Lake District, UK we visited in late 2014. Unlike Windermere which is congested with tourists and packed with heavy traffic, Bibra Lake is so much smaller and serene. This is perfect and ideal for family outings and picnics.

A morning spent in the park by the lake proved to be relaxing and fun for both the kids and adults. We had such great time!

Exploring Perth

We discovered that one way to explore and see Perth at the least cost is to use the public transport - train and bus.

For just A$12.00, a family of seven people (Group of 7 with two adults maximum) can hop on and off the train and bus (operated by Transperth) unlimited times from as early at 5.30am till mid-night during weekends and public holidays.

This trip to Perth, we took advantage of this facility and travelled as far as the train could go to the north as well as to the south.

After getting off from the train at the northernmost Station - Butler, we took the bus to visit Two Rocks, a very small town by the sea.

True to the words of the staff at Butler Station, there is really nothing much to see in Two Rocks. Besides the two rocks at the sea front, we could see quite a number of boats berthed at the jetty but hardly any people. At the sea front, we did see the head of King Neptune at a distance. King Neptune was once the icon of the great Atlantis Marine Theme Park that thrived in the heart of this area. Since the closure of the park, the statute however has remained as an icon of the area (Read here). I do remember the very first time I visited Perth with my family in the 80’s, Atlantis was then one of the major attractions. During our most recent visit to Two Rocks, we could not go to have a closer look at this giant statute because we were not driving.

At Two Rocks, the only person who “entertained” us was the bus driver at the bus station next to the only grocery shop before we returned to the train station. He talked about his personal misfortune of being once a rich man in UK and then becoming a poor bus driver after being “abandoned” by his wife after they moved to settle down in Perth. He said that his wife ran off with his best friend. For the divorce, he said he had to give up 60% of his assets based on Australian laws. That was a story that we listened with a big pinch of salt!

Besides the bus driver, we were lucky to meet an unexpected creature – a blue tongued lizard.

King Neptune

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In another day, we took the train and travelled south to the southernmost Station – Mandurah, which is 110 Km south of Butler Station.

Mandurah is indeed a pleasant place to visit. It feels like a bit of Perth city and a bit of Fremantle but at a much smaller scale. It is no wonder that developers can find the location attractive enough to build service apartments and holiday homes to attract holiday makers and retirees.

Cicerello’s “Fish & Chips” which is well known in Fremantle has a replicate here at the sea front.

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As an Engineer, I was impressed by an old timber bridge that is still being used to support a paved road for heavy vehicular traffic!