Family Lunch in Malaysian Restaurant

Before I moved in with my cousin Kheng's place is St Kilda Road last Sun, my cousin, Alissa brought us out for lunch on that day itself. Den and Andrew didn't follow as they've got prior appoinments. I packed my bags in the morning and came to pick me up. We then picked up her mum and sis from the city after their shopping. Then, dumped my bags over at Kheng's place and to pick him up as well. It was about 20km from Kheng's apartment. I didn't know we were going to a Malaysian Restaurant. When we reach, I saw the sign, Kotaraya Restaurant. Definitely Malaysian. It's located in Clayton. If not mistaken, there's a Monash University campus located in Clayton too.






Everybody were there already, Uncle Malcolm and Tua Koh (Den and Andrew's parents), 3 Cek (Alissa's dad), 2 of Uncle Malcolm golfing buddies and his mum.









All of us had Hainanese Chicken Rice. Must costs a bomb as the portion was damm big. We ordered sago dessert as well. Green coloured sago.....






After lunch, went to Coles Supermarket to get some food supplies for myself. Since Alissa is driving, might as well get more.

Good Simple Lunch and a Good Run

I went for a walk yesterday to familiarise myself around the new place Im staying in. Looking at google map, the apartment is walking distance to 2 parks. One called the Fawkner Park which is just right across the road and the Albert Park which is about 10 mins walk or less. Albert Park is better known as the venue of Australian F1 Grand Prix. Anyways, it was bad timing for me to go out for a walk as I was caught in the rain. Had to find shade couple times to avoid the rain. I went back home as the rain stops. As soon as I got my wet clothes changed, the sun came up. KNS! I head out for an hour run that evening. It was still cold but bearable. Think I am starting to getting used to the weather already.

I had lunch with Geraldine today. She has moved to Melbourne for quite a while with her husband and children. We used to see her a lot in KL races. She took me for lunch at Abbortsford Convent. We went to this Lentil As Anything Restarurant. It's a vegetarian restaurant which operates on a pay-as-you-feel model. It is run by a non-profit organisation. Although, I am more of a "carnivore, " I find the food here pretty good.

Behind the convent, there's a foot/cycling path along Yarra River. Very nice and peaceful place. There's also an animal farm for children and picnic areas.

This is the GPS in Geraldine's car showing where we are.

And I saw this at the park as well. Maybe I should send this to The Star....may end up winning the RM50! Maybe not, they going to censor this anyway.

Had a run in the evening at Fawkner Park. Did interval training today to get my heart pumping a little harder. Short of time to train for a 42.195km race in the middle of Oct but pretty happy that I trained today. One thing great about the park is you see a lot of people walking or playing with their dogs. All of it are really well trained. After the run, I went back to cook rice and veges and my cuz, Kheng heated up the frozen curry chickens his mum cooked before she went back to KL. Cold weather and after training really makes one hungry!

Cold and Wet Wet Day

I woke up early at 6.30am, looking out the windows and was contemplating whether I should cycle or not. Weather don't look good with heavy clouds, strong winds and cold. My cousins, Den and Andrew, were already in their gears and I still haven't decided yet. What the heck, I'll just ride with them and if I can't stand it, I'll ride myself back.

By the way, I think I must have saw thousand riders out there riding. Big, medium, small group or lone rider. There were so many of them. I am so amazed and this wasn't a really good day to ride. My cuz was telling me that on a sunny day, I'll probably see a lot more than today! Wow!

I lost touch with Den and Andrew, when they went with the faster group. I hang on dearly to the other group and I am starting to wonder when will they turn back. I was already going pass around 35km and finally the guy told me that we are turning around. What a relieve! We stopped for a while before making our ride back. Then, I saw my cousins stopping somewhere, thought of waiting for them, but then again they are too fast for me, scared they are going to leave me behind again. So, I stuck with the group. On the way back, there were more groups riding their way back too. It was good since it helps me with the wind by drafting behind them but the sidewind was a real pain. The group I was following actually overtook another group of riders in front, but I chose to stay behind. Bad mistake. The group kind of disappear after a while and in the end I was alone. Shit! I struggled on with the sidewind or headwind. any riders who passed me, I don't have the legs to follow. There were some riders that I could follow for a while but each of them have different spot to turn or stop.

That wasn't the only problem, I don't know how to get back! I know I had to turn right but which right? I rode ahead and had to stop to ask for direction. When I saw Crowns Casino, I know I was in the city but still I wasn't sure how to get back yet. Had to ask a fellow rider at a traffic light to get direction. Luckily, I found my way back in the end. A total of 80km ride, wasn't planning for ride that long. Reaching home, I checked on my phone which I left in apartment. Andrew called me a couple times, probably worried where I was. Anyway, he told me that they were going to Seven Seeds for breakfast so can meet them there. I had a quick shower and walked to the cafe. There were a lot more people in the cafe than the first time I came with Den on my first ride.

I had this for breakfast (below)





Andrew had this (below)


And Den had this (below)






I thought the price here were kind of overpriced but their latte and food were quite good actually. Anyways, don't think I'm going to come here often, will be broke soon if I did.

We went to a couple of bike shops after that. One was a warehouse and the other is the John Beasley Cycles. This is actually owned by John Beasley, our national cycling track team coach. Just too bad that when we got there, the shop was closed. The shop is actually a little far out form the city, in a town called Footscray.




There were a lot of Asians staying here, mainly Vietnamese, judging by the shops' names. Speaking of Vietnamese, I got to go and eat their broken rice with pork chop soon. I had it once when I was here long time ago. Passing thru these shops, winding down the window, you can smell the mouth watering food. Too bad we didn't stop out here for some food.




The rest of the day, I just rested and watched TV. Too tired to walk outside and it was raining again. I bought some forzen meat pies before the rain started. I wanted to try it since I remembered that I quite enjoy it when I was in NZ. Den and Andrew were going out for dinner so I had it for dinner. Delicious! Only AUD3.19 for 6 pies. Now I'm thinking of buying it back home.

Bike Botique

I met up with Grace for lunch today. She's my ex-schoolmate from Form 6. Haven't met her for quite a while. She has since moved to Melbourne and is working in the city, so made an appointment to meet near her workplace. We met in front of Myers, Bourke St and we went to this Japanese Cuisine Restaurant. I didn't take photos of the place, but while browsing thru the menu, name which sounds familiar suddenly popped up. Chow Hor Fun, etc. Thought, this was supposed to be a Japanese Restaurant?! Grace told me it was opened by a Malaysian. She says, "pian ang moh only". Haha.

After lunch, walked her back to her office nearby and off I went to walk around the city. Got into a couple of bike shop around town but bikes are not cheap at all. Then I remembered Den told me that there's a track at Melbourne University which was only walking distance from the apartment. So I went to check it out. Indeed, there there was a 6 lane synthetic track. However, it says on the sign, only for members. Mmh, I might just try my luck in getting in there someday.

In the evening, me and Andrew went to Bike Boutique Melbourne. Yes, the same Bike Boutique bike store we have in KL or Singapore. It's their opening night tonight, so we went to check the store out. It's located at:

Shop 2, 16 Liverpool St,
Melbourne, Victoria 3000

Mmh, seems like I am promoting them. eh, can I get a commission for this?

Going there, we walked thru Melbourne's very own Chinatown (pic below). Mostly are restaurants and since it's Fri night, the place is quite crowded.




Bike Boutique images....

Check out the blue sign next to Bike Boutique

Bike fitting area

Lockers and to shower room

This is a beauty TT bike (photo below). The guy at the store who just finished servicing the bike was saying it costs around AUD20k. Not sure whether he is just joking.

Just had to take this photo again - Little Malaysia

My cousins are going for a bike ride tomorrow at 8am, not too sure how long but they say it's a fairly quick ride. Don't know if I can handle their pace in the this cold weather. Couldn't keep up with Den's pace first time out. They catching up with a group to ride together. I might just follow if the weather's not too cold tomorrow.

Malaysian Food and My First Long Run in Melbourne

Had brunch with my aunt at a small Malaysian restaurant. It's called the Coconut House. Serves pretty much the local food you can get in KL, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Nasi Lemak, Pan Mee, Curry Laksa, etc.











Didn't do much after lunch. Went back and rested. The weather today was pretty good and sunny, so decided I head out for my run across Yarra River to Tan Track. I wanted to find out where this place is, it seems near in the map. Anyway, I mapped out the run (link) and looks ok to run there.



Each lap of the tan track is around 3.8km. There's a marker each 250m. It's track are mainly smooth gravel and it goes around the scenic Royal Botanic Gardens.





A brief description I got of the tan track can be found on wikipedia and also this link 1 & 2.

"The Tan
There is a 3.8 km running track parallel to the perimeter fence of the Botanic Gardens. Officially termed The Tan Track as it has a surface of tan-coloured stone aggregate, it is more commonly and affectionately known as The Tan.

The Tan originally served as a horse track for Melbourne's well-heeled, and is now one of Melbourne's most frequented locations for joggers. Locals, visitors and famous alike now share the space as its international reputation has grown. The Tan is often used in training by professional athletes, such as AFL footballers, particularly during pre-season time-trials.

Running greats such as Hicham El Guerrouj, Steve Ovett, Cathy Freeman, and Sonia O'Sullivan have all rubbed shoulders with the general public on The Tan.

The quickest lap of the Tan has been held by such notable Australian runners as Robert de Castella and Steve Moneghetti (10:41, 2003). The current record is 10 minutes and 12 seconds, run by Craig Mottram in 2004. On the 21st of December, 2006, Craig Mottram unofficially broke his personal best time around the tan, running a scorching 10 minutes and 8 seconds while running with the Richmond Football Club during their pre-season training. He gave the footballers a two-and-a-half minute head start and still managed to beat them comprehensively."

Well my fastest lap time today was 17 minutes 12 seconds, a full 7 minutes behind Chris. I ran twice clockwise around the track and was wondering why most people are running clockwise. I figured that they are just in for the challenge of a small climb up Anderson St. So lap 3 & 4, I ran clockwise. My GPS wasn't working well today so didnt get a good reading of the distance I've covered. But judging by the map, I guess I've covered around 21km today. I wasn't actually planning for a 21km, more of 15km maybe but since it was so cold, I could go longer. At the end of the 4th lap, I had cramps on my left calf. Then on the way back, nearing the apartment Im staying, I sped and the right calf cramped, so I just jog slowly back. Now I am worried whether this is due to the cold weather or is it just me being unfit. Have not train much since SCKLM.

Anyways, I am glad that I did 21km, at least I got my training started.

Sarawak Laksa Meal Far Away from Home!

Well, who says you can't get laksa here. If you have an auntie who comes all the way from Malaysia, that's possible. I'm glad my aunt was here, she was here for more than a week already but this is the first night I met her and she's leaving tomorrow. The laksa tasted so good, you just have to have another round of it. There were fried rice and homemade cupcakes too. Most of cousins were there and also Andrew and Den's parents. Will be meeting all the cousins again for dinner tomorrow and my uncle & aunt who are flying over from Kuching tomorrow.

I went for a walk down to Flinders Street and towards Melbourne Park. Melbourne Park is where the Australian Open tennis is held each year.

The famous Rod Laver Arena

The Flinders Station


Some of the bulidings in Federation Square - right opposite Flinders Station

Visitor Centre - Federation Square

Sites from Yarra River Bank

Shot Tower Square - Melbourne Central

Captain Matthew Flinders statue - outside St Paul's Cathedral

Luckily I got back before this started - with strong wind some more....