C'est LA viE

haha today indeed, definitely was a good day!=) I was so happy today, had heaps of fun...

had a well rest last night, and paya's mood also seems getting better, yes, look how I was so easily influenced by others....(good or bad?)

we decided to go to lower hutt for a vegetarian lunch, while walking down from basin reserve, I just realized courtney place was closed for the rugby fan zone, wow, first time saw a very empty courtney place.....haha...

And guest what, the south african team's bus just passed by front of us, and there were players inside the bus, haha but our reaction was so low tone, as we were more tempting for irish~

There were 2 semi finals held in this weekend, today was ireland vs. wales, and tomorrow is south african vs. aussie...Therefore, there were so many foreign fans everywhere! Wellington was just so hit this weekend!!

well, not only courtney place, the bus service was also influenced, many stops had been transferred, and yes we were so blurred, and missed alot of buses, so eventually we reached lower hutt around 1pm, with a very empty gut~ *scream*!! haha, luckily I had frappucino from starbucks earlier....

The nature vegetarian food restaurant opened by Malaysians is very tasty, i kinda homesick....gosh~

I ordered Malaysian vegetarian nasi lemak, and I really come into suprised! As I really hate vegetarian food, ok dont get me wrong, I respect vegetarians, and I love vege, I just hate those vegetarian food made by flour which purposely mimic the meat product.....for me, I really dont think it is necessary, and flour! Gosh, evil carbs~ haha, although I used lot of flour for baking. Ok, back to the topic, the "chicken" made by flour really awesome, crispy outside, with very fresh texture and flavor, yum! But it only got 6 small pieces, I guest it was very tough to make them right?

And look at the heart shaped rice, omg, so beautiful!

and here a little appetizers, wonton on the left, and vegetarian curry puff on the right, again very good texture~

and paya ordered a bowl of curry noodles, and look at the unique and authentic chinese tea bowl~ I missed home TT

Then after lunch, we took bus back to city, there should be a dance event at Courtney place, while waiting, we went to butlers cafe for affogato~

affogato is paya's favourite, is like 2 scoops of ice cream served within a hot espresso (photo below)~ and the best service with butlers is they always give a free chocolate with your order~ nice <3 I had ordered seasalt caramel chocolate

I had ordered a chocolate affogato, which was on top, and I thought it meant ice cream in hot chocolate, but I was very wrong, they just mean add more chocolate syrup into the normal affogato~ Gosh, the coffee was so strong, and for sure is coffee! I am not sure whether I was able to drink coffee or not as I do not drink them. Yep, I drank mocha frappucino from starbucks before, and also did drink hot coffee which made by myself in very unusual condition (for example, strongly forced by someone, or no other options). But then, the coffee I made was so mild~

So this time, I guaranteed, for sure, I am NOT ABLE to drink coffee, after one tsp, omg, I felt dizzy, headache....asleep....my god~

So eventually paya helped me finished the whole cup! But anyway, I did enjoy this high tea =)

Then we also received a free rugby shaped chocolate from the friendly Butlers waiter, he was giving out free rugby chocolate! Yup, wellington was so crowded, and all rugby fans just so high and tempted for the semi final...No matter they were heading to the stadium or not, they were for sure, very enjoyed the atmosphere, same like us!! 

so we actually dint see the dance event, as we waited and waited but just dint happen, anyway, we saw many different fans!! They dressed up so fun, and funky, and unique!! Just really interesting to see their emotion and madness! haha

ok today was mostly wales and irish fans, see wales fans (in red) were so little, and they faced so many irish fans (in green), but they were standing for their team so desperately, everyone just so high!

haha, the irish bar of cz support it own team! Impressed by the giant doll~

courtney place was closed, people were walking freely on the road~ rugby fans everywhere~

and a group of irish fans, on their way to the stadium, passed by courtney place, see how they dressed up, with their irish flags, and green wig~~ haha, they were singing the whole way, with very high passion!!

and of cz, this was the madness I meant! Luckily is not summer yet~

Then, was dinner time, I had my dinner at Cha at courtney, yep we dint watch the ireland vs. wales game, just watched abit intro and opening, and saw a very charming wales player, omg, was like the first time i fell for western people! akakaka, actually I was willing to watch ireland and wales, but paya was more falling for france, so we decided to have dinner first.

I dint take photo this time, but had a great dinner, very full!!!! haha, and we also found out from others, ya news just spreaded, wales won!! OMg, this was not what I expected~ I dint mean that I want ireland win, was just I dunno wales was that strong, wow!! Thumbs up!!

So, we moved back to the fan zone at courtney place after dinner, see the big screen! The weather is abit drizzling, but was alright to stand at outdoor..

was empty in the photos cz I captured like 20mins before the game (england vs france), but very soon, everyone just come after their dinner, yes cz they went for dinner after wales won. Then when the game started, more fans from stadium just moved back to the fan zone~

and the atmosphere definitely getting higher and higher, French fans seems like dominated the courtney place fan zone, not sure the same situation happened at water front or not. And yes, french team was very "lucky" to have many tries.....yes, cz too many people claimed that they were weak team. But I actually willing england to win....and some people at the fan zone, or probably there were more, just they were too quiet, or mayb the french fans too hyper~

then, yes no hope for england, they failed to got into semi final~anyway, while watching the game, I noticed a charming good looking guy standing beside paya, omg, haha i was suprised that I actually started look at foreign guys now....

But he really looked good, although I just saw he side looking, but omg, he looked like sonny bill williams haha! with tanned skin, and quite good body shape, and the feel, wow, very good~~

anyway, france won, received text from sophie alle alle blueue! which means go blue team (french team wear blue)

so had a very great night, sweet dream, hope I dream the good looking guy I met just now, wahahaha =D

so I went to welly again, and was really a bad night, cz the naked bus delayed 2 hours, without giving any excuses and apologize~

It was the first time for me met this type of situation, was really confused whether to wait or not, and I definitely brought troublesome to paya, she was worried for me, and ya she was not feeling very well too....I felt so guilty...

I decided to wait eventually, had a very rush dinner at coffee club, because I just afraid that the bus will arrive at any time....

then another bus came, the bus driver was telling me the bus will be 2 hrs late, which means it will arrive at 8 instead of 6...but, actually it arrive at 8.40, and yes I arrived welly at 10 something!! =(

There were alot of foreigners (irish, wales, south african, australian probably) on the bus due to the semi final hold at welly, I felt that I really come at the right time regardless of the delay.

However, still felt very sorry for paya, she was waiting me at wakefield st, and I could see that she was abit helpless with my late arrival, but I was not the one to be blamed...and at that time, I really felt that I should not come....oh well, actually I had make a decision....

anyway, it was a very tiring night, good nite~

I actually felt that I am really lucky to work with my supervisors, and work in the same office...

Bcz I have so many opportunities to hear gossips, rumours, interesting stories and also have chance to eat!!

Yeah, haha because my supervisor likes organizing events, so we often have like cakes during tea time, or even dumplings!!

So Sergey made some Russian special dessert, not only very beautiful, they were delicious!!

they were different types; such as blue berries one, or mango for the filling, using jam or sugar on the toppings....love this flower pastry dessert!

so the first mission after 24, walked 18km in a day!! Woaah

believe or not, I have no idea about this when I said yes to sophie that I will go with you guys this saturday....

I had no idea we are going for hiking, even tho I guest that we would, I really did not expect that we would walk for 6 hours!!

OMG! I was not prepared, half bottle of water, 2 slices of bread, 1 can of smoked chicken.....and also very thin clothing with legging, are u kidding??

and I only realized that after I hopped on the car, wow, can I say NO?!

of cz not, so yes, I walked~hahaha

It was the whakapapa crossing, and the final destination was Tama Lake on top of the moutain~ yes mountain!!

on the way to our tramping site, notice the skiing kiwi bird? haha cute!

the moutain is always in our vision, but no matter how far we walked, the moutain is still the same distance from us, so u can imagine how long is the walk....

and the walk path is actually very flat at the first 2 hours, and also easy to walk, but don't u think there will be short cut, is a long, and continous walk, we had no idea what was in front of us, and also had no idea how far we need to walk to reach our destination~

bright sky, we are the world! haha

behind me is whakapapa ski field, not sure if the name is whakapapa moutain or not, but is very cool to have this close view~ we also able to see the ski field in very tiny size.....and I actually climbed up to a small hill to take this photo~

see, I was at middle of no where, no signal on the phone, no water around, and we dint bring any emergency pack or warm where, cant imagine how brave we were~

ok, heading for lunch after nearly 1 hour walk I guest, see the rock behind? We planned to have lunch there~

life is good when I had an apple from sara and watching this amazing view!

others also enjoyed their lunch before continue for another long walk~

no flowers, no green....cz is volcanic walk, so this is the plant around, I was sitting on top of this, is like cushion =P

ok after this photo, we continued our journey

finally, finally, we see a sign after nearly 3 hrs walk (which include lunch), and our destination is lower tama lake 14 min, upper tama lake 45 min~ what!!!, ok actually when I saw this sign, I was so excited, I was so looking forward for the view!!! and means we were near!!

and yes! finally lower tama lake!!! nice~ I wondered if any life in the lake?? so isolated, so difficult to access....this one is definitely a volcanic lake~

and then we continued our walk to the upper tama lake, and this path really killing me, I felt that my life was actually treatened when I start walking this, seems like easy, but actually this way is nearly vertical! And the path is very rocky....my shoes is kinda worn off, and was so easy to slide bcz I was walking on rocks, not road! I was thinking to give up at the begining, but all people were willing to climb so I had no choice, and kept on convincing myself, is not too far away, just be careful, the view on top will be magnificant!

we suddenly saw this on the way to upper tama lake, I am thinking maybe this "statue" is a symbol, or probably the way people pray for the moutain, the natural? well, inspired from the latest japanese drama starring takuya kimura, haha continue read my blog and u will find out which drama i mean...

anne was really brave enough! haha, as u can see, is ice, yes, is nearly melted....and here actually supposed to be cold and chilly, but since we walked continuously for so long, of cz we wont feel cold....and thank god the weather was good, and winter had gone....

u see the little building? well, is very small in this photo, and is quite far, I should include a pointer....well, there is where we started walking from...see how far we had walked?!

of cz photo captured by sophie, the way to upper tama lake.....

finally, finally!!we reached!!! haha, of cz I completed my mission, and must took a photo to prove!!!

and then we continued our journey, but back home, and yes the way went down from upper tama lake really very risky, i was so scared, walked very very slow, and really afraid one mistakened step will kill me.....thanks for the girl for being patient for waiting me....

then, finally I touched the  flat ground! wooah....relaxed...but the way back was really tiring, I thought it would be just walk back, but seriously very tiring, and sara walked damn fast as she was very exhausted as well....then, I was really worn out, and wanna just take a break, and was nearly pissed off that time when they continued walking... however, I understood I should not complaining as everyone was tired as well...We eventually had like 5 mins rest, and I also dehydrated.....

after 2 hrs I think, we chose another way back to where we were, which is the way that will pass by the waterfall

yes, the waterfall also nice, but seriously I was very tired to have fun at the fall....

and the final review after we reached the place where we started our walk....see the pointer "you are here"? and the two blue lake on the right of the "you are here" are the upper and lower tama lake, so seems very short distance on the map, but no way~ I am not goin to repeat this walk anymore =P

yes I agree, is one of the great walk! I actually felt very great after this walk, regardless of the tiredness, I felt relieved and refreshed! Was like a challenge for me, but then target achieved, felt so good!

And I now realized that I did enjoy hiking, although somehow felt very lazy to do it, so need a push from others, and also be more tough to stand against the laziness....

life is good to have this type of hiking activities, this magnificant view isn't it? =)

哇哈哈，这样好像在‘晒命’酱，但是其实只是想一并分享我的喜悦。。然后对大家的礼物深表感谢！

首先这个那么可爱的雪糕杯是郭庆送的~

然后耿叔送的measuring scale，好大手笔哦，是顺道暗示我多做甜品吗？哈哈，非常乐意！

jessie送的可爱绵羊茶壶和杯子~那个茶壶其实上面是茶壶，下面是杯子！

小燕送的2012年日历，耿嫂送的手链，还有伟霖送的碗~

曼祯的最让我惊讶了！竟然从奥克兰寄礼物来！好开心！谢谢，我还记得那天收到礼物时（生日后几天) 我心情本来很不好的，这份包裹真的是made my day!!! =)

nicole送的baking ware,他也真会选，选了一个我没有的款式！哈哈太好了！

还有毓善帮我画的肖像！哇第一次有人帮我作画咧！好开心哦~大家觉得像吗？

以上，谢谢各位出钱出力了！我会好好珍惜的！