Miss USA

Phill wants me to include this photo of Miss USA, whom he thot was HOT, but then later realised, only in this photo. =P

Miss Korea should have been Miss Universe!!!

I reckon Miss Korea should have been Miss Universe!!! The other contestants such as Miss USA and even the winner, Miss Japan, only looked good at some angles but Miss Korea is the only one that looked consistently good. What a shame! She was so graceful and carried herself so much better than the other contestants. I reckon she was ROBBED!

And Miss Singapore, Jessica Tan, was good-looking too!!! The rare time Singapore's rep actually looked like she can match with the other contestants. She should have been in the top 10, and even the top 3!!! She is no less prettier than the winner and I saw how well she carried herself.

Paolo is Brilliant!

Paolo Nutini, an artist I heard a couple of weeks ago cos he visited Melbourne to promote his debut album, was a singer-songwriter that I thought was all bubblegum pop....until I heard his songs. And to me, he is one brilliant singer-songwriter!!! It is so difficult to find an artist whose ENTIRE album you enjoy (not just one song or two), much less someone's debut album!!!!

I know KT Tunstall's song "Suddenly I See" is still going strong in the charts here but I feel that Paolo is a much better singer-songwriter. He has this kind of voice that is so much more mature than the teenager he is. Paolo is DEFINITELY worth a listen and more!

Gala Dinner & Martin's Centre

Above: Nadia and her friend at the gala dinner.

Above: The graceful yet very strong acrobat (a la Cirque de Soleil) unwrapping herself from a length of cloth hanging from the ceiling. It was impressive!

Above: Nadia and I at the dinner (I am so fat!!!) and I'm wearing one of the necklaces I bought at Subiaco this morning.

Above: Some of the great food at the dinner, appetisers, followed by the chicken (other choice was beef) and then the sweet (dessert). By the time of the dessert, I was so full but ate the dessert anyway (hence the feeling fat and am fat look - I can't say no to food).

Above: The band who provided the musical enterainment of the night were made up of planners. They were called the Sub-dividers (hahahahah! - Planners who approve subdivision applications).

I had a great time at the gala dinner (which concluded the PIA conference) and invited Nadia to the dinner cos there was a spare ticket. I met up with one of her friends and we had a good conversation. They were both really nice! The whole atmosphere was so nice, the table decor was beautiful, and the food was delicious, the entertainment (an acrobat a la Cirque de Soleil) and a band consisting of planners, and the table Nadia and I were on consisted of all girls who were fun. Even though they were very dressed up, they were a hoot and wasn't all formal and everything.

Then at 10pm, Nadia asked if I wanted to go and have a drink at a Revolving Restaurant which was not a far walk from the conference centre where the gala dinner was. So, that's what we did. And I felt abit concerned cos the streets in Perth were deserted. And even though Nadia was wearing high heels, she gamely walked the 20 mins to the Revolving Restaurant at Martins Centre. We spent an hour there and it was fun, looking at all the sights as the restaurant slowly spun around. As I was looking down on the city, all I can think of was "I hope the restaurant don't spontaneously spin off and drop down onto the city"....me and my strange mind....

Above: Nadia shaking hands with her favourite "businessman" sculpture outside Martins Centre (the revolving restaurant was on the 42nd floor).

Above: As Nadia explained to me, the sculpture marked the change in attire and technology used by businessmen over time. A really unique and cool sculpture!

Sights around Perth

After lunch at the final day of the conference, Mabel (Adelaide planner) and I decided to go around Perth and do some shopping cos I won't have any other time to do so before my morning flight back to Melbourne tomorrow morning at 7am.


Some mall and streets sights of Perth CBD:

Above: one of the free buses provided in Perth and it was so convenient and the frequency was about 7-10 mins, which was quite regular. Apparently, the funding for the free buses were generated from the income obtained from parking meters around the city. What a fantastic idea! I know Melbourne has the city tram but I don't think it's as regular.

Above: A view of the Perth CBD while I was on the free blue bus.

Sights of Subiaco and Perth

Above: The entrance of the Subiaco Station, which was part of a major transformation, turning industrial land to commercial/ residential uses. Most of the nice houses in Subiaco, I'm told are very expensive, at least $1 million too. It's a nice area.

The Subiaco Hotel where I went after the "Amazing Race" event at East Peth. A nice hotel.

Chutney Marys (http://www.chutneymarys.com.au/home.html) where I had dinner with Nadia. Yum! Yum!

I saw a really nice jewellery shop when I was at Subiaco with Nadia last night and decided to skip the morning session of the conference to go to Subiaco and have a closer look at that shop. I went and had a nice breakfast of bagel and ham and coffee and then walked around a second-hand bookstore, and then to the jewellery shop where I spent a good part of the time and bought about 5 necklaces. The shop owner was having a 50% discount on most of her stuff cos she had sold her business and was clearing her stock. I was really happy with all my purchases and didn't regret it abit although it did cause a dent in my pocket, but it was the only indulgence I had in my whole trip so I thought it could be justified.... =P

Nadia and Chutney Marys

I met a Perth planner, Nadia, who was in my team during Monday's "Amazing Race" event for dinner tonight and it was great just hanging out with her. She was really nice and even though she didn't attend the PIA conference (only the Young Planners Conference) cos her company couldn't let her go, she said to ring her when I had time for dinner and she'll show me around. So, even though she was in Subiaco, where we were meeting, she drove to my hotel to pick me up and took me to Subiaco where we had dinner at Chutney Marys.


One pic of the dinner, which was another YUM dinner!



After dinner, we walked around Subiaco and then stopped at a cafe for some coffee and talked so late into the night that we were told nicely by the staff that they were closing up. We were going to watch a movie but the nice, comfy chairs in the cafe and our engaging conversation caused us to forget the time...by the time I arrived back at my hotel and slept, it was 11.30pm.

Presentation and Korean Dinner

Not captured really well in the above pic but this was one of the best presentations at the PIA Conference. The above presentation was by a planning consultant from a reputable agency and the presenter hardly spoke but allowed his high quality presentation to speak for itself. It was visually exciting and the various music accompaniment pieces were upbeat and very suitable to the different images being flased on the screen. The presentation included the need to preserve the environment, utilise prime land, and examples of some wonderful planning decisions and ideas.

After the first day of the PIA conference today, I met up with my second cousin (my cousin's cousin) and a long-time friend, Joaquim. We went to Chinatown in Perth and a Korean dinner which was YUM YUM YUM! I usually eat Seoul Garden (a Korean franchise) in Singapore but this was so much superior to Seoul Garden. It was one of the most satisfying dinners I've had and Joaquim was so nice to help cook the beef and vegies, and show me how it's all done. It was good to catch up with her too especially since we didn't have an opportunity to do so when she and I were last in Singapore in December last year.

Some pics of the yummy dinner!

Young Planners Conference at Kings Park

Mabel, the Adelaide planner I mentioned earlier in my post, is on my right.

During the lunch break of the Young Planners Conference held at the beautiful Kings Park (a huge area of land reserved for the public which has great views over Perth), I joined some of the planners for a walk around the Park and to a lookout which had great views of the Swan River and Perth CBD. I was very impressed the Western Australian government had the foresight to reserve that land for the community. It's gorgeous!

More info about Kings Park ---> http://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/kingspark/index.html?Menu=kingspark&Sub=home