We’ve completed our 10 days challenge. Feeling really good about our body, we celebrated our victory by going for a steamboat buffet. Bad move. We chose only fishes and vegetables to eat. We ended up not eating a lot after all because somehow our stomach shrunk after the 10 days. I told hubby that we won’t be going for steamboat buffets anymore. It’s just now worth it.

Today, I cooked something new. Curry chickpeas! I’ve never cooked it before but I’ve cooked tonnes of curry chicken in the past. This time, I added a lot more spices than before. Surprisingly, it was delicious. Just the sight of hubby scooping up every last drop of the curry makes me feel very happy and satisfied. Cheap thrill. Tsk tsk. We’ve been eating in a lot and cooking. It’s just easier to maintain healthier lifestyle this way although it’s a bit time consuming. I forgot how nice it is to cook and it can be very therapeutic.

7+km cable car ride to Kuranda.

At one of the hill top

A rainbow next to big Barron Falls (view from cable car)

There’s just something about rainbows. It makes you feel happy and grateful for mother nature’s work of art.

Two days ago, I met an online friend all the way from Penang. He’s a team leader in some network marketing company and doing very well. As we were talking, it’s obvious to know that I’m a person who is lost and he’s one person who has figured everything out. He looks very happy and contented with his life. It was fun to finally meet him and I must say that I admire his confidence. The next morning, he sent me a poem by Kent M. Keith.

Anyway

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

Hmmmm…….I must say I don’t quite enjoy the slightly pessimistic tone of the poem but I guess maybe I’m not to that level to understand yet.

Today is day 9. Yesterday, we were out for a business meeting and didn’t have a choice but to eat outside. We choose to eat Sushi, as I recall the Sushi from this particular shop seems to be very mild in terms of using flavorings compared to almost all other restaurants. After no green tea and a few pieces of sushis with soy sauce, wasabi and what not, we felt pretty awful. First of all, I thought everything was very salty. Immediately after, I felt dehydrated. Our mood and energy came down a little and we felt a little irritated. My urine (sorry if this is too much information for you) was yellowish until mid day today even though I’ve been chunking a lot of water down my throat. Not just normal water. I’ve been drinking a lot of alkaline water with drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice. I’m not joking at all. In fact, I’m dead serious.

Imagine that. This sushi place served food that I used to think was the mildest turned out to be full of flavorings/MSGs. We used to love this place so much we eat at least once a month. This kind of effect has never happened to us before. Somehow our tongues are more sensitive to flavorings now…and also animal’s flesh. The worst part is the discomfort and lowered energy from eating such food. Perhaps instead of craving acid-forming food, our bodies are craving alkaline-forming food now. We’ve been nourishing ourselves so much that our cells doesn’t want to take crappy food anymore?

Today, my energy increased again during midday and I was so happy to feast on vegetables again. I can’t believe it. Alkaline diet is awesome. I’ve been running around meeting a lot of people this afternoon and I didn’t feel tired at all.

My cowboy hat…



The car we rented



The coastline

Day 7 of our strict diet and we’re getting used to it. Today, we tried frying rice with just vege, liquid amino and rock salt. I was unsure if this adventurous trial will be too bland because there’s no egg/meat/soy sauce. Turned out to be tasty.

Hubby and I have been watching relationship videos from Tony Robbins. It’s wonderful how he helped to turn around married couples who are going to split up. I’ve learnt so much and also asked myself how I can improve my marriage. Honestly speaking, this whole getting married thing isn’t really one smooth process. We’ve been fighting about many things before we went to Australia. It was very frustrating and I had a lot of doubts in my head.

Now, I have some wonderful tips in my hand on how to maintain a passionate relationship. I understand why I’ve been feeling so miserable. My sense of responsibility is so strong. From young, my parents turned to me when they needed someone responsible in my house. They reinforce this behavior by verbally rewarding me. When I started working, I began to put on a masculine mask in the society so that people won’t think I’m weak. I used to not accept it when people said I’m not capable because I’m a woman. These two qualities I’ve held on to has put off the feminism in me. When I bring them into my relationship, I felt so miserable. Feminism is my true identity but I’m going against it everyday for survival. In fact, I am quite a motherly person. No joking. I know now that I need to tone down my masculinity when I’m with him and embrace my feminism. I trust that my hubby will take care of me and he has assured me. I must be the luckiest person on earth.

I actually enjoy wedding planning. There’s just so much to look forward to. I was very picky and choosy earlier, wanting to take care of all the minor details. I wanted it to be perfect. Now, I feel more relaxed because I know at the end of the day, it’s not about the wedding. It’s about the marriage. I can’t wait to enjoy my wedding and excited that we both have a wonderful life to experience together.

Outside Sydney Fish Market

Lovely day out in the sea with many yatchs

Mr No 1 in my life, who made all things possible

Day 3 of our strict Alkaline diet. I’m still feeling wonderful. Last night, both of us went shopping for our favorite Bean Curd Skin (Foo Chok). Very hard to find outside of Pasar indeed. We ended up buying from a stall that sells Lobak.

Caught up with work and friends…. still am. Yesterday, one friend asked me for Aussie trip photos and I told her I’m too lazy to post. She said that for a blogger, I don’t have a lot of photos on my blog. I told her that I’m not a celebrity blogger and I don’t plan on being one. Later, another friend asked me to put teaser images in my blog so he could have a sneak preview before viewing the photos from me in person. Much later, my fookies told me to upload on fb and make it private. Argh.

Well, I’ve listened to all of them. Uploaded albums in fb but only some have access. And here’s my teaser photo….

You have a problem?

Okay okay… After some thoughts, I’ll post photos but spread them out a little. Bit by bit to remind myself of the commitments I’ve made in this trip. Here’s another two more for today.

Yesterday, hubby and I started the 10 days challenge all over again and this time we’re going to be strict. We went shopping for food and stocked up our shelves. I must admit, I’m struggling trying to eat raw greens but it’s worth it.

This morning I woke up feeling…Wooohhh! Last night, I closed my shop and only got to go to bed at 2am. I had to wake up at 6am again to cover morning shift. In the past, I would feel very tired and sleep. Today, I feel great! I can’t wait to leave work, catch up with my girlies and do my laundry later.

Experienced a little energy crash in the afternoon. Today, we rested in our sharehouse after many days of vigorously exploring the city’s attractions. I’m back to strict alkaline diet. Can’t wait to go back Malaysia. Not easy to maintain this alkaline diet without cooking facilities here.

We’re flying back to Sydney before transiting into another plane back to Malaysia. Our Cairns-Sydney flight has been brought forward half a day! Due to this, we’ve booked a hotel in Sydney for a day stay. Won’t be able to blog until I get home, I suppose. Till then, take care folks!

Today, I cheated. Felt so guilty. Hahaha….

This morning, we woke up very early and went to the Reef Fleet Terminal. We boarded the Quicksilver SilverSwift boat and headed out to Flynn Reef of Great Barrier Reef. We spent the day snorkeling at 3 different reef sites. It was amazing! There were many types of fishes. Some glowy, some colorful, some as big as 2/3 of me. There were clams, turtle, beautiful corals, sea cucumbers, jelly fishes and many more! What a lovely day. One of the big fishes touched me on my face. That felt great!

After the last snorkel site, the boat crew served refreshments. I stared at the chocolate cake for a long time before deciding to eat it. Oh man! It’s only day 7! Alkaline again with lemon water.

Experienced a little crash of energy today. Felt kind of tired right now.

This morning, we woke up early and headed out for Kuranda. We took the Skyrail (7km+ cable car ride) up to Kuranda. It was beautiful. Wow! Although I felt a little fearful about sitting in a cable car, I must admit it was a pretty good ride. There was a 250m waterfall called Barron Fall halfway. In the morning, there was a rainbow near that huge waterfall. Amazing! When we reach Kuranda, we went shopping, eating and also enjoying the cool weather. Then, we went for a jungle walk. At 2pm, we took the Kuranda scenic train down back to Cairns. It was a pretty awesome ride too. The scenery is just great!

I think I have to do a strict alkaline diet. Am going to buy PH strips when I get back to Malaysia.

Woke up really fresh today even though I only slept for less than 7 hours. We have vege sandwiches for breakfast with loads of avocado. Needed the nourishing fat from avocado.

Today, we rented a car and drove up the Captain Cook Highway along the coast line up to Port Douglas. The view was superbly wonderful. Our road is on a mountain. When you look down, it’s all water, nothing but ocean water stretching from far right to left. The waves moves towards the shore and hits the rocks. Lovely! Midway, we stopped at Hartley’s Crocodile Farm and spent half day in the park. I never knew crocodiles can be such fun! There were shows where the park rangers actually stood very close to the crocodile and the crocodile went “Snap”! The sound they made were as though someone took two big wooden boards and banged them together. Very loud! We also went on a boat ride and a ranger fed the crocodile right in front of us (about two feet away). I touched a young 1 year old crocodile!!! Their skin felt like rubber and if you didn’t tell me it’s a crocodile, I would have thought it as a rubber toy. We saw some koalas too but they are such boring animals. All they ever do is just eat and sleep….very much like panda bears.

Today, we cheated a little. Couldn’t resist the chocolate and bought a bar of Lindt dark chocolate 85%. Alkalizing now with a big cup of lemon water. =.= I guess it’s easier to do the diet when you’re not on vacation. Haha.

My energy level is increasing. We are finding it challenging to find food that are safe to eat. Reading the labels in the grocery store like nobody’s business. But we’re hoping to do this for at least 2 months to see what Tony means. Even if after all these, I don’t think I ever want to eat industrial chicken and pork anymore. Yucks! Shits & pisses! For all of you who haven’t watch Food, Inc., please do so. You’ll never look at food the same way again.

We’ve booked a few tours today. Yay! Will be going to Kuranda, Hartley and a diving/snorkeling trip by Quiksilver’s SilverSwift. Excited!