Catch up with Dr YC

I spent much of Saturday with some friends from my Clay Group, hanging out & catching up with our dear friend Yan, who came from Hong Kong on a 2 week visit to Brisbane. She has not changed much since she went to HK 9 months ago. Saturday wasn't actually the first time I saw her since she's back on her visit - she attended her PhD graduation on Friday nite at UQ (so she's officially a "Dr" now), & thereafter dropped by at CCCB St Lucia to attend the Clay.

Anyways, our Saturday outing was pretty good. A bunch of us met up at Winston's place after 12pm. The original plan of heading for Yatala to taste the pies was somehow abandoned. After deciding over where to go, the 8 of us went in 2 cars (myself, Yan, Sandra, Wong//Winston, Sean, Ivan & Maria) headed east to Victoria Point for some fish & chips near a marina site. The fish & chips was passable, without being great. The views at Victoria Point (marina & all) were good, & there were some nice houses in the area. One of the guys showed us his dad's boss' houses & they were huge. Looking at the houses brought out the materialistic side in me, as I chatted (half-jokingly) with Wong about getting into share trading to make good profits & using the money to get me some of those houses!

Anyway, we left Victoria Point & headed up to the beach at Wellington Point. The beach there didn't have much sand at all. It was good weather, perfect for fishing. Yet it was windy, so we put on our winter clothes, & took out a couple of picnic rugs & sat by the beach. Some of us played cards, & we also spent a little time at the jetty. A few of us, including myself, also had some ice cream.

We then departed Wellington Point just after 5pm & headed to Bulimba to dine at a Mexican dining place, called La Quinta Cafe y Bar. We arrived a few minutes before schedule, so we walked around Oxford St, Bulimba & all the way to the Bulimba Ferry Terminal by the Brisbane River, & then headed to La Quinta. We were then joined by Nigel, Phuong, BT, Selma. Chi & Suzanne came later. We had some starters before main dinner. The 3 dishes that I shared with Ivan, Maria, Nigel & Phuong were enchilada, fajita, & chili con carne. The fajita was superb, chili con carne was quite nice too (especially the beef), but the enchilada (which I picked) was not as good as the other 2 dishes. Interestingly, the fajita bore a remarkable resemblance to an Indian roti. Perhaps that subsonsciously made me positively pre-disposed to liking it even before I tasted the fajita.

After dinner, the "original 8" headed back to Winston's place. Some of us then headed over to Grace & Damian's house which was really nice (Winston was house-sitting). There, I watched the Asian Cup quarter-final between Japan & Australia, while the others (Winston, Sean, Ivan, Maria & Yan) played cards. I was too engrossed with the football to join them with the cards.

An enjoyable day, filled with lots of catching up, laughs & fun. Great to see that all is well with Yan. I thank God for such a friend & sister in Christ, & may God continue to bless her & use her to be a blessing to others. I don't know what her movements are during the rest of her stay in Brisbane, so I don't know what other opportunities I will get to chat with her apart from church on Sunday. But I really enjoyed being able to catch up with her on Saturday. Thank God for a great day!

PS: A shame I didn't have my camera (died during Hung's birthday party), so I had to take pictures via my Samsung mobile phone. I still haven't figured out how to get pictures from mobile to my PC. Never mind.