Stephanie Chai & Wedding Guide Asia

It’s been a while since kennysia.com featured an inspirational well-known personality, so today I’d like to introduce to everyone Kuching’s very own Stephanie Chai!

If you think she looks familiar, then you must’ve seen her in one of your KLIA Express train rides where she’s constantly on the TV screen singing praises about Starhill Gallery. Steph is obviously doing very well now in KL hosting TV shows, acting in movies (Fair Game with Naomi Watts!), emceeing events and gracing front covers of various magazines.

One thing that Steph isn’t doing is sitting with half her tits out waiting to be a tai tai and perm her hair like a poodle. Stephanie Chai is an enterprising businesswoman in her own right, with wits to match even the toughest entrepreneurs in this country.

My first encounter with Steph was way back in 2008 at La Bodega. That was before either of us started our own businesses. What we had was nothing more than a bit of imagination in our heads.

Over coffee, she shared with me how she wanted to start an online magazine; and I shared with her how I wanted to start a fitness centre. Till today, I am thankful she didn’t laugh at this fat boy who wants to build a gym and reported me to the mental hospital.

I shared with Steph all I know about blogging. Thinking back, I’m not sure if I even gave her any valuable insights. What I do remember was gaining some fresh ideas on how to go about setting up what would later become Level Up Fitness.

Fast forward 2 years later.

Level Up Fitness finally opened for business. As a gesture of friendship, Stephanie Chai was gracious enough to be the emcee for my grand opening ceremony.

During this time Stephanie also laid the foundation to create what would become Asia’s definitive online wedding portal – WeddingGuideAsia.com

I managed to catch up with Steph again outside both our hectic schedule, and she shared with me more about her little web project.

Kenny: Let’s start from the top. We often hear of models setting up modeling agencies or fashion lines. You must be the only model in the world to start a wedding portal! Why o why?

Steph: Haha, well Kenny – originally I was going to start a fashion and beauty site, but when my best friend Elaine appointed me as one of her maids of honour, I realised there was a huge opportunity and gap in the wedding market. So, perhaps being the most overzealous maid of honour in the world – I started a wedding portal! Or if you want the whole story, simply check out our ‘about’ section (woohoo more traffic, yes please!).

Steph: Why a wedding portal? Well, if you think about it, there are so many of us Asians who live abroad, but naturally will return home to celebrate their wedding. If you’re living in Melbourne, you can’t quite ask MPH to post you the latest bridal book or magazine! And the same goes for local Malaysians, the easiest way to start planning your wedding is to jump on the internet and google away!

Wedding Guide Asia has posts about everything and anything wedding every Monday to Friday. We cover things like ideas for wedding themes, real weddings and most importantly, our wedding directory – the Little White Book. We’re starting to grow this intensively from May onwards now that our traffic is on par.

Today, I get emails from brides as far as San Francisco even! Our traffic is mainly from Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, UK & the USA – I still think it’s simply amazing to think you can reach people all over the globe at the click of the mouse. Look at the trouble we had with Iceland’s ‘dusty cloud’ – can you imagine if there was no internet?! Alamak.

Kenny: I know you probably get a lot of questions about this, but what would Stephanie Chai’s dream wedding be? Are you gonna have one of those super huge weddings where everyone and their uncles come to attend?

Steph: For sure!! You can bring your uncle too Kenny. I’m quite a traditional LEO and would love nothing more than a huge party to celebrate with all the family and friends I’ve made over time. I think ideally it’d be great to have a small beach wedding with the people you’re closest too and then a larger one for everyone. Weddings are about celebrations after all, and I do have the chinese side of my family to keep happy!

Kenny: You interviewed quite a lot of well-known personalities about their weddings. Which one is your favourite?

Steph: Did you see my interview with Daniel Henney?! He was oh my goodness bla bla bla… *proceeds to gush about how gorgeous Daniel Henney is for the next 10 minutes*

Kenny: What makes a good wedding?

Steph: Without a doubt, the most important
component of a wedding, are the people. I once went to a wedding full of guests who weren’t close to the bride and groom, and thus the atmosphere was a bit odd. I mean if people don’t really know you, how can they react or be interested in the speeches etc.

So though we have a lot big weddings in Asia, make sure the bulk of guests do care! Also, try to be a different from the norm, sometimes I feel like people are just waiting to eat and run. Make it more of a fun, relaxed affair with good entertainment!

Steph: But overall I’m still learning about weddings – obviously I don’t have a lifetime of experience! However, I believe if you want to run a great website, half the job is understanding how online marketing and the internet functions as a whole.
If you ask me, should you start a new magazine or an online portal tomorrow – without a doubt I would advise the latter.

Ask yourself how much time you spend online?

At the end of the day, where the consumer goes, the advertiser will eventually follow. I think as an entrepreneur you should always bank on future trends rather than compete in a market which has already been ‘done’. It has been busy running weddingguideasia, but no doubt fulfilling! I am a bit of a nerd at heart and my big dream was always to be an entrepreneur…

 

Kenny: Now, for the question every one of your aunties out there will no doubt ask – when are you going to get married? And if so, will weddingguideasia.com shut down after?

Steph: Very funny Kenny! Strangely, a few people have asked me that. Last year, dating took a back seat as I was super busy running two careers, one in the entertainment industry and then with WeddingGuidesAsia.

I remember a guy asking me on a date and I had to say ‘Err… maybe in December!’ Who knows about love Kenny! I’ve always planned my career and goals since young. But never love. Because you simply cannot control or will love, it just ‘happens’.

Steph: I take marriage quite seriously (my Italian side is no doubt Catholic!), so would definitely never rush into it. However, I do feel that society puts pressure on women to ‘tie the knot’ before a certain age. Which is bad, because you should never settle for a Tom, Dick or Harry! 😉

Honestly speaking, I think I grew up a bit too fast and spent the bulk of my 20s in a few serious relationships. So nowadays I’m quite happy to chill, and would definitely date the person for awhile before taking the next step. Also, it’s true that you really have to be happy with yourself before you can be with another.

Steph: To be completely frank, I was only at peace with myself when I started WGA late last year. Perhaps deep down there was a part of me that was scared to turn up to my high school reunion and be seen as the typical ‘model turned tai tai’ (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s just not me).

I suppose, when its meant to be – you will meet the right person, at the right time, at the right place… and it will feel ‘RIGHT’. Haha, right Kenny?? 😉

Steph: Marriage is forever so choose wisely boys and girls!

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I’m Going To Sydney TOMOWO!

Well, not really.

 

But I was there 2 weeks ago on the invitation of Tourism Australia.

Sydney, in the Australian state of New South Wales, is a cosmopolitan and lively city completely different from the peace and tranquillity we experienced in Tasmania.

Here, you see men in suits walking down the streets alongside Asian students. There’s a cafe and convenience store around every corner. And traffic is always a problem.

Sydney has all the elements one would expect from a major capital city: great shopping, good public transport, brilliant nightlife and two of the most famous architectural symbol of Australia – the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

Most people would be happy just taking photos of themselves outside the Sydney Opera House. We kiasu, so we did the guided tour inside, but it’s okay only lah. I reckon it’s something only cultural buffs would enjoy.

If time permits I would’ve got tickets to watch a performance inside because the acoustic inside is awesome.

The Bugs Bunny one looks good.

Anyway, this wasn’t my first trip to Sydney.

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I had been here twice before. Both times, there was one thing I had been DYING to do – simply because I can do it only in Australia.

Back then, I was a student so I had no cash opportunity to do it. This time I DID IT.

I climbed Australia’s national icon – the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The experience was truly extraordinary and unforgettable. Contrary to popular belief, the climb wasn’t difficult at all.

I mean, if Edward Cullen a bunch of vampires can do it, surely I can too.

It’ll take about 1.5 hours walking along pre-fabricated pathways to reach the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The 360 degree view right at the top was absolutely breathtaking.

BridgeClimb is the only company offering this unique adventure.

At AUD$188 (RM 564), the price is steeper than the climb. Then again, it’s Australia and the company adhere to very strict safety standards. I was constantly hooked on to a safety railing.

Unless I’m damn stupid, nothing I do would make me fall off and die.

Anyway, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge sure make for great conversation when you get home.

Friend: WAH! You went to Sydney ah? Did you take photo of the Harbour Bridge.
Kenny: Yeah, but not only that. I CLIMBED THE FREAKIN’ THING!
Friend: !!!

It’s a pity that most people who travel to Sydney seldom venture out of the city.

Just a short 2 hour drive away, is a place called Blue Mountains.

Blue Mountains a world completely unlike the modern skyscraper jungle that is Sydney. This is where some of Australia’s best natural wonders call home.

The journey to the Blue Mountains was as almost exciting as the destination.

On our way there, we passed by a lot of quaint small towns. We stopped by this 200-year-old abandoned ghost town called Hartley.

The Australians preserve this village so well, it looks almost exactly the same as it was 200 years ago.

Heck, even the location of the horse feed was that same.

You can compare it with this old photograph below.

Oh wait. That’s not a horse.

The truth is, tourism in the Blue Mountains has been around since 200 years ago. People from that era used to travel to the Jenolan Caves, which is one of the most spectacular cave systems worldwide.

Although I grew up in a Malaysian state famous for its caves, I had my first ever adventure caving experience right here in Australia.

In the past, my caving experience consists of walking to a hole in a mountain smelling bat shit.

Adventure caving means I have to wear on an overall, put a hard hat, then abseil, climb and crawl through rocks, dirt and bat poop.

Squeezing through rocks was a real challenge and by no means easy. But I did it.

It’s a bit like squeezing through the crowd at Zouk Club on a Saturday night – without the pleasure of surrounded by hot babes around you.

Strangely, I find the journey into the underground surprisingly fun and rewarding. that;s because I was seeing something only the privileged few get to experience.

Apparently, people are already exploring caves for tourism even way back in the 1850s. The only difference is, people those days wore just their street clothes and held a candle for light. Often, they’d sign their names on the cave walls.

Those inscriptions would remain for the next 100 over years.

This “L Arnott’s” father eventually went on to create the world’s most delicious chocolate biscuits.

Then of course Nintendo invented video games and after that nobody really gives a hoot about caving anymore.

There’s a lot to see and do in the Blue Mountains. But the biggest reason why people flock to the Blue Mountains, is to stand on a cliff overlooking the national park.

This views here are just majestic and jaw-droppingly beautiful. It’s almost like the Grand Canyon, with more trees, life and fresh air.

Trust me. No matter what I say, how many words I write and how many photos I show, nothing can truly prepare for the sight of the Blue Mountains in person.

In order to truly appreciate the beauty of Blue Mountains, I recommend staying over at one of the many Bed & Breakfasts over here.

The place we stayed at was Echoes Boutique Hotel and it was simply the most tasteful luxurious accommodation throughout our entire ten days in Australia.

The sunset views over the Blue Mountains was worth the trip alone.

As if the Blue Mountains were not spectacular enough, some local folks cook up a fairy tale to give the place a mystical edge.

This rock formation is known as The Three Sisters of Katoomba. It is the most popular attraction at the Blue Mountains.

Millions of tourists flock to the Blue Mountains to see these sandstone erosion. But then they also got to hear this bollock of a story about how three human sisters were actually turned into sandstone by a jealous witchdoctor.

Heck, they even erected statues to commemorate this obviously fabricated story.

Well, you be the judge.

See if you can tell the similarities between The Three Sisters rock formations and The Three Sisters statues.

This is The Three Sisters rock formations.

 

 

And The Three Sisters statue.

Look alike meh?

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ADV: Level Up Fitness Featured On Project Alpha

By now everyone would have heard of Project Alpha.

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Project Alpha is a TV show hosted by Jojo Struys about Malaysian bloggers. The show started filming last year with a cast that wasn’t even supposed to include me. Reason being, I was WAY too busy with work. I couldn’t even peel my butt off the seat for one second to travel to KL for the filming.

Halfway through their filming process, suddenly I received a phone call from Nuffnang. Apparently, the show’s main sponsor, adidas Action 3, insisted I must be on the show. I felt damn paiseh because the crew squeezed a normally 3-day filming process into just half a day.

Next thing I know, the show went on to garner HUGE publicity throughout the country. It won accolades not just from bloggers, but also from traditional mainstream media like Hitz.FM, Hitz TV and heaps of local celebrities.

This is Amber Chia asking you to watch “Project All-fur, the show about Malaysia’s top broggers.

Season 2 of the show sorta naturally fell into place right after that. Not only did adidas Action 3 returned as their main sponsor, Malaysia Airlines and P1 W1Max threw their support behind as the show’s official flight and broadband sponsors respectively.

It’s great to see a project you supported from its early days doing well.

 

With a bigger budget this time round, instead of flying me over to KL, the entire cast and crew of Season 1 hopped on a MAS flight and came to Kuching, just to pay a visit to me and my fitness centre.

Obviously, I am very honoured! I am very proud of my hometown and my fitness centre. I couldn’t wait to show the KL peeps personally where I live, eat and work.

Here are some of the Project Alpha episodes when the Season 1 Bloggers came to Kuching for a mini reunion.

The cast and crew touched down Kuching. Jojo almost could not get past immigration because she’s Malaysian PR and she didn’t bring her passport!

MAS Travel Tip: You can use your Malaysian IC to enter Sabah and Sarawak. But if you are not a citizen, be sure to bring your passport!

MUST WATCH this episode! The bloggers came to visit me at Level Up Fitness – Hilarity ensued when Audrey attempted Dance Aerobics with instructor Busman.

The bloggers took a stroll around Kuching’s Main Bazaar. Meanwhile, I showed them a traditional Sarawakian viagra called "The Gambir!"

Adidas Action 3 Grooming Tip: Girls don’t like guys with bad B.O. A deodorant spray up the underarms every morning will take care of that!

The bloggers travelled by looooong distance bus to visit a Bidayuh longhouse.

P1 W1Max Blogging Tip: If you travel long distances regularly, make full use of your travel time by subscribing to a mobile internet service. Getting productive on-the-go is the way to go.

Anyway, I’m not gonna put all the videos up here because there are heaps more interesting episodes online at projectalpha.com.my. Whatever you do, be sure to watch Niki Cheong and Xiaxue’s trip to London!

Cheesie talking about how she ended up choosing blogging as her full-time career.

This is me talking about how I met Cheesie.

(Btw, this was shot last year when I was wayyyy overweight.)

I must say one thing though.

Jojo Struys made Level Up Fitness look good!

Things To Do In Tasmania If You Don’t Value Life

My initial impression of Tasmania was that it’s a nice, quiet and peaceful place.

Looks can be deceiving.

The whole of Tasmania is like one big natural Disneyland. Everywhere we went, there were people who are willing to take your money – and give you heart-attack for change.

One example was the Tasman Island Cruise we took.

At first, when we saw their booth at Salamanca Market in Hobart, I thought “Cool! All we’re gotaa do was hop on a boat and see some seals!”

Tasmania is the southern-most state of Australia, so absolutely nothing exists further south from land. Except Antarctica.

And furry seals.

Lots and lots of big, furry, cute, sun-bathing seals.

It wasn’t until we arrived at the dock in Port Arthur, that we realised our “Tasman Island Cruise” was actually more of a speedboat ride than a cruise ship.

The good thing was – their team was very well-prepared. Unlike us.

Despite the sun shining brightly on our happy faces, we were warned that it’s gonna be cold on the cruise. Like, really, really, REALLY COLD.

Even before we ventured out into the seas,we were offered seasick pills, warm clothes and wet-weather gear.

In the process, they made Cheesie look like a mushroom.

The first half of the cruise was easy.

We cruised along the shoreline into the Indian Ocean, admiring the pretty ocean views and breathtaking sea cliffs. It was simply chillaxing.

Even the wildlife here were just chilling out.

We spotted several dolphins, sea lions and some BIG ASS tuna fish (not their scientific name) leaping over water hunting for food.

But all good things must come to an end. 45 minutes out into the sea, the weather suddenly changed. Skies turned from blue to grey, and the Gods turned on the tap.

Along with that, the look on our faces transformed from smiles into ARGGHHHH.

It was pouring rain and we were absolutely freezing our butts off.

When we returned to the pier, one crazy guy saw swimming in the sea with no shirt on. Then we saw him crawling out out and muttered, “Hmmm… the water is cold.”

YA THINK?

Port Arthur in Tasmania is a place of significance for many Australians. Many Australian’s ancestors came here from England as convicts, before being released into the free world.

There’s a very well-preserved Port Arthur convict colony here worth visiting. Tourism Australia booked us into a hotel here.

(Not really.)

And since we’re in Tasmania, we also dropped by the Tasmanian Devil conservation park.

Here, we saw some Tasmanian devils.

Awww.

Then we saw a kangaroo giving us the puppy eyes.

Awww.

Then we saw a baby kangaroo sharing his food with a goose.

AWWWWWW.

*heart melts*

Then we saw a big ass kangaroo hopping towards us for food.

 

… Errr. Yes.

As if all that boat-riding earlier in the day wasn’t enough, the next morning we went looking for more action.

The Huon River is one of the most quiet, serene and peaceful rivers in Tasmania.

But all that changed thanks to this man.

 

He invited us onto his jet boat, and drove down the river so fast that our hearts came out of our mouths and sank to the bottom of the river.

So now we are officially heartless.

As if that wasn’t enough to give us a cardiac arrest (oh wait, we have no heart), our next destination is the Eagle Hang Gliding adventure at the Tahune Airwalk.

This is hang-gliding made easy. Instead of jumping off a cliff on my own, we were hoisted by a cable up to the treetop, before gliding back onto the ground.

It was very safe, but very FUN.

The icing on the cake was that the owner of the Eagle Hang Glide has a bloody cute pug. If you do visit the place, please say hi to this dog.

Poor pug. I suppose that’s the face you’re gonna have if everyday all you see are tourists on a hang-glider screaming their lungs out.

Anyway, after all that screaming and shouting, there’s nothing Cheesie and I look forward to more than heading back to the hotel in Hobart at night, light some aroma candles, put on some sexy music, and immersing our bodies into a hot bubble bath.

Unfortunately Cheesie and I are platonic friends, so we had to do our bubble baths separately. 🙁

According to what I learnt in uni, the formula Hot Chick + Bubble Bath = Hits is always right. How I wish I could end this post with a picture of Cheesie doing her bubble bath.

But since that is not possible, this is your replacement.

 

 

Nah.

I love bubble baths <3.

It’s Been 5 Years Since You’re Gone

Dear Papa,

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  Today is the 5th anniversary of your passing. How are you doing up in heaven? I imagine you must have had lots of friends by now to keep you company. Heck, as I’m writing this, you might be playing cards with Ah Kong, Ah Ma and Michael Jackson.

  Just kidding. But seriously, how are things up there?

  Will you forgive me if I tell you I haven’t been taking care of Mom very well? These past few weeks I have been flying all over the place. I haven’t been seeing Mom very often. She’s been wanting to talk to me, but I’m always doing work on the computer or on the phone. Sorry Papa. I try my best k?

  Papa, there’s another thing I’d like to apologize for.

  I had chosen not to take over the business empire you built. I know, I know this is not what you wanted. Papa, I’m so sorry but I tried. I just wasn’t as good as you were. I never had the confidence to do what you had accomplished.

  Instead, I spoke to Uncle and Mom. They gave me their blessings to start my own business. 6 months ago, I had the opening ceremony for Level Up Fitness.

  It makes me sad that you were not there to witness this very proud moment in my life. I was under sooooo much stress in the weeks leading up to the opening. There were sooo many problems and I didn’t even sleep the day before the Grand Opening. Mom told me how similar I was to you when you started your business many years ago. Now I know. Guess it is true: like father, like son eh? Haha.

   So many times I wanted to tell you about my business problems, then I remembered you’re on long-service leave.

  Don’t worry Papa, everything is okay now.

  Although my fitness centre is entirely different concept from your supermarkets, your spirit lives on. I work with the same set of principles and values that you taught me, and treat my staff with the same attitude you treated yours. I even incorporated the logo of your business into mine! 🙂 Every time I see it, I am reminded of you.

  I miss you Papa. 5 years on, I still wish you were here. Guess the only way I’ll see you again is on the day I join you in heaven. I’ll make lots of coffee for you then.

  Please take good care of yourself.

 

Love,

Your youngest son.

What To Eat In Sydney And Tasmania

I have packed on 5kg in two weeks thanks to Australia’s good food.

Australians are proud of their food. We know that because Tourism Australia is intent on making everything remind us of food.

Even the hotel we stayed at in Hobart, the Henry Jones Hotel, was in its previous life – a jam factory.

Here’s a quick guide of some of my favourite things to eat and drink while touring Australia.

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Flat White. It’s basically latte with less milk, so the coffee tastes a lot stronger. I MUST have a cup of this every morning to start my day.

You can’t get flat white at Starbucks back home, but this type of coffee is popular all over Australia. The best ones I had are at Eucalypt Coffee Art in Port Arthur, Tasmania and Fresh in the Blue Mountains near Sydney.

James Boag’s Beer. Not readily available outside of Australia, this Launceston beer has a sweet, refreshing, crisp finish to it.

Some of the best beers I’ve had in life are brewed in places with ready access to unpolluted spring water. It’s an ingredient Tasmania obviously has plenty of.

Grilled scallops.

Freycinet Lodge in Tasmania had the freshest, juiciest, most succulent grilled scallops I’ve ever had in my entire life! I always like scallops, but I never knew it could be THIS good.

The cafes surrounding Sydney Fish Market has pretty good grilled scallops too. I always order the ones still attached to their shells, sitting on a pool of their own juices. Those are most delicious.

Grilled Crayfish. Also at Freycinet Lodge, Tasmania. A crayfish is like a lobster, but with tender meat and juices that would burst inside your mouth with delight.

Salt & Pepper Squid. I had salt & pepper squid all the time when I was living in Perth. Since I left, I never found a single restaurant in Malaysia who can do squid the way I like it.

Me Wah Chinese Restaurant in Hobart and Cafe Sydney in (duh) Sydney has the absolute best-tasting fried squids ever. The latter has an awesome view overlooking the Sydney Habour Bridge.

Tasmanian Salmon. Order it grilled, smoked or raw. Order it with cheese, bread or on its own. Order it anyhow you like.

Salmon in Tasmania is simply legendary. Nobody should leave Tasmania without at least trying the salmon there.

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My favourites are the salmon bagel I had at Retro Cafe and the grilled salmon at Smolt – both in Salamanca Market, Hobart.

You can probably tell by now that seafood is BIG in Aussie. The combination of fresh seafood selection and well-trained chefs is what make it so good. It’s too good to miss out in Australia.

Of course, not everyone is gonna dine at restaurants everyday lah.

Just before we left for the airport this morning, Cheesie and I ditched our sucky hotel breakfast and dropped by Sydney Fish Market for a last minute taste of Australian seafood.

Over here, salmon, tuna, oysters, abalones, scallops and mussels are hauled up from the fishing boats everyday, then cooked and served directly onto our plates.

It’s ridiculously cheap by Aussie standards too. we had a huge 160g serving of tuna sashimi to share between us for just AUD 12 (RM36).

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After such a short but delicious taste of what Tasmania and Sydney have to offer, I am determined to return once more to explore more of Australia’s cafes and restaurants.

Of course, the downside to eating all these good food is all the exercise I must to do to work the calories off.

And I did…

…by climbing all the way to the top of Sydney Freakin’ Harbour Bridge!

Tasmanian Road Trip: Launceston To Hobart

4 days ago, we began our great Tasmanian road trip from the island’s north.

From Launceston, we travelled westward towards Cradle Mountain National Park.

Along the way, we stopped by honey factories, sauce shops, wineries and Sheffield – a funny little town with building walls where people put their best artwork on.

 

Somebody even painted Michaelangelo’s Creation of Adam here, in 3D.

When we reached Cradle Mountain, it was like entering an entirely different world. The national park is a popular destination for locals to rest, relax and trek through the forests. The views, even from our hotel rooms, were nothing short of enchanting.

We spent a night on the mountain to soak up the fresh air. But heavy rain woke me up the next morning.

Regardless, Cheesie and I still pressed on with our umbrellas and walked through the forest.We had no regrets. Only in Cradle Mountain would spot wild native Australian animals in their natural habitat and we be rewarded with ethereal views like this.

From Cradle Mountain, we travelled eastwards towards Freycinet – to visit another one of Tasmania’s beautiful national parks.

The journey took us 3 hours.

Okay, I lied.

The journey took a lot longer than 3 hours, because every time we saw an interesting shop along the way, we would make a short detour.

We spotted this road sign and swang by this tiny shop where they breed and farm their own oysters, mussels and other types of delicious seafood.

These literally come straight from the water into our dinner plate. It doesn’t get any fresher than this.

And it’s cheap too. 12 pieces of natural oysters is only AUD$14 (RM42)

 

One thing I like about Tasmania is that we often get the chance to meet with the founders, or at least the person behind the day-to-day running of the businesses.

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At Josef Chromy winery, we actually had lunch with Josef Chromy’s grandson.

Not only did the guy treated us to a platter of cheese, he entertained us with stories about how 60 years ago his grandfather fled war-time Czechoslovakia with no money in his pocket -  and ended up setting one of the most successful wineries in Tasmania.

Finally, we reached Freycinet National Park. The views here are completely different from what we experienced at Cradle Mountain.

The weather is warmer here and we were greeted by turquoise blue bays and white sandy beaches surrounded by dramatic granite mountains.

 

A popular thing to do in Freycinet is to take a 1-hour hike up to a small lookout overlooking Wineglass Bay. It wasn’t too difficult (even Cheesie can do it), and they say you can see a beach that looks like a wineglass.

But I couldn’t see any leh.

Then again, the weather wasn’t perfect on the day I went. On a good day, we would’ve hiked down to the beach and enjoyed the waters. Wineglass Bay was consistently voted as one of the top beaches in the world.

We didn’t manage to see as many wildlife as we did in Cradle Mountain. The only one we managed to spot was in the carpark.

Its a wallaby wallaby walla-walla-wallaby *sings to the tune of Imma Be*

Cheesie went up to the wallaby and gave her a nice pat on the back.

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She stayed still. She likes Cheesie.

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I went up to her to give her a nice pat on the back.

wallaby

She hates me. 🙁

Launceston, Tasmania

G’Day from Down Under!

I am now in Launceston, Tasmania together with Cheesie, on the invitation of Tourism Australia. It’s only the second day that we’re here and already we’re having the time of our lives!

Our adventure started Tuesday into Melbourne. From KL to Melbourne is 8 hours. Both of us forgot to charge our laptops beforehand and we ended up with a boring long flight from KL where all I did was staring at the seat of the passenger in front.

It was Cheesie’s first time to Melbourne, so I took her over to the casino for some late night dinner.

Our taxi fare to-and-fro  Crown Casino was AUD$90 (RM270). If I hadn’t won AUD$100 at the casino, I’d have shot myself in the butt.

The next morning, we took the local budget airline, Virgin Blue, out from mainland Australia into Launceston, a small city located on the northern end of the state of Tasmania.

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Tasmania is the often forgotten state of Australia, located off the south western tip from the great big land of Australia. It’s a real pity not a lot of international tourists come here because it’s an absolutely gorgeous place with lots of greeneries, small historic towns and some of the freshest air I’ve ever inhaled.

And it’s only an hour flight away from Melbourne. From what I heard, the good news is that AirAsia is rumoured to fly here soon.

Thanks to me waking up late and missing breakfast, Cheesie and I were famished. Our first stop was the historic town of Evandale – a small place about 20 minutes away from Launceston Airport.

We stopped by a place called Ingleside Bakery. Here, we had our first taste of what Australian food portions are like.

That was enough to feed skinny Cheesie for a week.

Most people who visit Tasmania travel from the north to south in a rental car, visiting many small shops along the way.

We did the same thing, and our first stop was awesome-sauce.

It’s literally an awesome-sauce shop because the Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company make sauces and they are awesome.

It started off in a home kitchen of a cottage run by a husband-and-wife team. Here, they make various sauces, jams and chutneys using only fresh ingredients found in Tasmania.

They even grew some of fruits in their garden on site to make jam.

But this is only a very small company with a very small kitchen run by 4 cooks using normal kitchen utensils. Heck, their kitchen was smaller than mine. And I don’t cook.

Yet, their sauces are so popular that they export them to 5 and 6-star hotels all over Asia. That’s why, they are truly awesome-sauce.

We later drove another 20 minutes to the town of Perth (not the one I grew up in) and visited the Tasmanian Honey Company.

Again, this is another small company without any big factory machineries and bottling stations I imagined it to have. Yet, this small cottage business make such great quality products that they also export them all over the world.

Only in Tasmania can we find Leatherwood Honey – a honey so rare they had to camp overnight in the jungle just to harvest them.

Cheesie and I each got a bottle of honey, to give to our honeys.

By the time we reached Launceston city, the sun was already setting.

Being an island with lots of natural beauty, Tasmania fosters a burgeoning artist community. We find people here often incorporate very creative designs into everything that they build.

It could be something as simple as the painting behind me…

…which is not actually a painting, FOOLED YA!

It’s a window looking out to the city’s park.

At the Design Centre of Tasmania, this stylish wooden chair that costs AUD$400, an arm, a leg and your first-born child. As expensive as they are, it’s no doubt the design and quality of craftmanship is very high. It’s a worthwhile stop if you’re in Launceston.

We appreciate how design-conscious the locals are when we finally checked into our accommodation for the night – TWOFOURTWO, a serviced apartment created by a local Tasmanian designer Alan Livermore.

At AUD$300 a night, it’s got everything from a complete DVD library to bubble baths with Tasmanian peppermint scent. Cheesie and I each got our own apartment. We shamefully admit it was better than our own home.

We didn’t wanna leave.

Unless it’s dinner time lah.

At dinner, we realised the artistic spirit of local Tasmanians wasn’t just limited to rooms and furniture pieces. Our dinner didn’t even look like dinner. They looked more like little pieces of art.

This is  I couldn’t bear to eat my dinner because it would be like eating The Monalisa.

Before our trip, Cheesie and I were asked what we’d like to do while we’re visiting Tasmania. Cheesie told them she wanna do all the girly stuff like spa and shopping.

I didn’t fancy shopping because I figured it can be done everywhere in the world. So I told them I’d like to try some adventurous stuff like bungee-jumping or bridge-climbing.

I didn’t expect Tourism Australia to accommodate our requests. But they did.

The next morning, they split us up. I was gonna to head into a forest and pretend to be a flying fox for THREE HOURS.

As for Cheesie? She got whisked off to do some shopping at Launceston. Then, a guide is gonna whisk her off for a one-hour all-expense-paid trip to a SPA!

Damn. Makes me wish I had chosen the spa option instead.

But I didn’t regret going to Hollybank Treetops Adventure.

Compared to the flying fox at KL Tower, the one at Hollybank is a lot higher and longer. There’s five section of cable – the longest one is almost half a kilometre from one tree to another.

Imagine being suspended 10 storeys high above the air, zipping through the forest canopy from tree to tree.

Flying fox is not as scary as bungee-jumping, but definitely an exhilarating sport to do, especially in Launceston where the scenery from the top of the tree is beautiful and the air is fresh.

The air makes you do funny things too.

From Launceston, we took a 90-minute drive up the windy road to Cradle Mountain.

Cradle Mountain is a world heritage site popular for the Australians to get away from the city for some R&R.

The scenery here is breathtakingly dramatic and beautiful, but it’s the many native Australian wildlife here living in their natural habitat that make up the main attraction.

Note: Cheesie is not an Australian wildlife.

But a wombat is.

We stayed overnight here on the mountain top at the Cradle Mountain Lodge.

At night there’s a there’s a spotlight tour where a guide would bring us into the bushes looking for nocturnal animals. Cheesie and I managed to spot two Tasmanian Devils in the dark, but we didn’t get a good shot of him.

All we got is a picture of a bored-looking wallaby going, “Whassup?”

Tomorrow, we’re gonna take a road trip down south, where we’ll eventually end up at the state capital of Hobart.

It was definitely a fun-filled two-day trip thus far. Tasmania is such a beautiful place. For such a small Australian state, there’s just so many things to do. The highlight of my trip was doing the flying fox at Launceston.

For Cheesie, perhaps it was the visit to the cheese factory that was her favourite.

I’m not that much of a cheese-lover, but I had to admit that the cheese made here is really good. I even bought some back for myself.

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We met with the owner of the cheese factory. (Was surprised he wasn’t wearing a cheese hat and a cow suit or something.)

They had over 20 different varieties of cheese out on display, and all I gotta do is take a toothpick out for some free sampling.

 

I had parmesan cheese…

…some lavendar cheese…

…some Malaysian cheese.

Oh wait.

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