Postcard from Australia

Touchdown, Melbourne.

Thanks so much for the card, guys. How sweet and thoughtful of you all. :) I got to browse through a few of the pictures from “rib” night/ Yvonne’s party, wishing badly that I could’ve been there that night. Time was definitely not on my side. I had initially intended to post an “All My Bags Are Packed, I’m Ready To Go…” entry the night before I left but the packing and spending time with my family stretched right up to the last second. I barely slept that night and was afraid I’d be feeling all crappy in the plane feeling jaded yet unable to sleep. Got to the airport really early only to find a massive queue of people checking in and going, darn, looks like my flight is full. I knew I exceeded the weight limit for check-in: 32.4kg when only allowed 20kg. Thank goodness the lady didn’t say a thing nor did she charge me a single cent. Phew! Despite the crowd, I was placed in a lovely aisle seat with two vacant seats right next to me so I could lift the arm rest up and stretch a little which was just what I needed – comfort. There were no annoying kids in sight, no strange passengers with funny habits, no elderly coughing away and the cabin crew service was actually not bad. It’s my first time taking MAS as I’ve always flown to Australia on SIA via transit. As for the food, it was the same menu I had coming back from HK last year. Ha. I managed to get a few hours of sleep and watched C.S.I, Law & Order, this really funny laugh-out-loud Brit comedy; Coupling, Everybody Loves Raymond and played some crosswords and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in which I only won a max of £8,000 as I wasn’t familiar with most of the Brit questions. I couldn’t help but think how Chin Heng and Marcus could score a million pounds easily. :P

The landing was the smoothest I’ve ever experienced. Not even a bump felt. We arrived 10 minutes earlier but that was set back again when the officials were having trouble with the connecting bridge from the plane. Passengers had to wait in the plane and that was when a kid starting singing non-stop much to the obvious annoyance of other passengers, and I was so relief he didn’t do that during the flight.

Carrying my out-of-your-mind heavy laptop bag across my shoulders and my insane, oversized hand luggage was the ultimate challenge. There were no trollies until past customs and my shoulders, neck and fingers were totally aching, even till today. Walking towards baggage claim section, I could see my luggage going round the conveyer belt, from a distance. Ah, there it is…the pink-purple one. All 32kgs of it. :) Used my bionic energy to pull it up and out onto the trolly and headed to the red section to declare a bottle of dried prawns, fried onions and curry powder that my mum insisted I bring for my cousin because he’s just plain lazy to cook. :P

The airport exit is secured by this automatic metal door, like some sort of vault. You push your trolly right up to it and then it opens, revealing to you a crowd of people outside holding name signage and waiting for their loved ones. I’ve always thought of the metal door to be a psychological way of “welcome..you have stepped into the ‘other’ zone”. Ha.

The air was chilly…a temperature of 19 degrees. It was dark and quiet when I purchased my Skybus ticket which takes me from the airport to the city where I can then take a cab to St. Kilda. The bus driver was really nice and friendly, helping me put my luggage up and joking about its weight while I managed the rest. In the bus, the typical blue toilet lights were switched on all around. The radio played songs like “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” among many others, all of which you’d never hear, on any given day, on Malaysian radio. And it was then that it hit me – I am back. Back to the blue toilet lights, the friendliness, the strange radio playlists, the cold…

My cab driver was an African who has been living here for 11 years. He couldn’t stop talking throughout the whole journey and as we approached my friend’s place, he asked me out for dinner over Easter weekend (which is the coming week where most schools are off for an entire week and Good Friday and the following Monday’s a public holiday).

I slept pretty late that night after making calls to my parents to inform them of my safe arrival and catching up with my friend as he had tones to update me on. The next morning we walked over to Chapel Street (Melbourne’s famous shopping district where you have everything and anything that women just fall on their feet in awe) for brunch with his brother and my eyes had a feast just observing the beauty of all the cafes and restaurants, some familiar and still surviving after 5 years, and some new additions to the street. I had my first meal in Melbourne that morning and it could not have been any better than a yummy BLT (Bacon – yes, that’s PORK for you, haha! Lettuce & Tomato) on Turkish bread, and a glass of refreshing OJ (Orange Juice). I could live on these things. I really could.

Then my friend and his brother headed off to check out a computer fair and since I’ve got pretty much all the gadgets I need, short for my speakers which I’ll get later on, I decided to explore the whole Chapel Street myself (it’s a VERY long street) before I headed up to the city to meet another friend. Did a check on certain landmarks I found familiar – yup, Borders is still there, so is the retro and lovely Astor theatre, Jam Factory, Sportsgirl, Witchery, FCUK, HMV, Coles, Alannah Hill, the Irish pub, and so much more and ooh, they’ve even got an Apple Centre now. Temptation came in the form of torture when I passed stores and stores of SHOESSS!!! ALL pretty, colourful and bursting in their splendour! From local designers to international ones, it was an endless spread of footwear that nearly made me cry. I distinctively remember that there wasn’t such an invasion of shoes in Chapel Street years back! I had to focus on walking pass them and not stepping in. So far, so good. Someday I’d return with cold hard cash and buy myself my first ever pair! Ha! But until then, self-discipline must take its course. I even saw Kookai going on clearance sale with lovely tops slashed to AUD$5, pretty dresses, funky bags and accessories. What temptation.

Headed to the city by tram and had to take time adjusting my brain to the city crowd walking about. Federation Square (which was still work in progress when I left) is all complete and full of life. A very nice artsy piece of architectural work, I’d say. So many things are going on; they’re having an Andy Warhol mega exhibition and Boutique Australian Fashion Labels at the Art Gallery now, Diana Krall will be performing soon, the Mumba festival was just a week ago, and a great event line-up for the long Easter weekend. True to heart, Melbourne’s still very much the city that doesn’t sleep in peace without a festival each week. Met my other friend and we went to this lovely café along Little Collins Street that I used to frequent years back. It hasn’t changed much, the menu looks good and it’s nice coming back to see wine priced the same as beer, coffee and juice. ;)

After juice, a sandwich with salad and a coffee over a nice time of female bonding, we decided to do some window shopping and I was shown the new GPO (General Post Office) that has been transformed into a high-end local designers boutique. It was a bittersweet feeling for me when I found out GPO went down in flames about four years ago and that I never heard of the incident. GPO was my all-time favourite post office, one I frequented every week to send snail mail back to my family and pay my bills. I never got tired of standing outside just staring at its architecture. I’m glad they managed to preserve most of its exterior as they did a fabulous job creating a classy shopping arcade inside. Australia in general, is bursting with talent and more than capable designers who produce beautiful art and it was nice to see most of the brands together under one roof. The prices are ‘ouch’ but the sight…breathtaking. :) We then took a tram ride up to Carlton (which is the suburb I used to live in) to check out my friend’s townhouse; a humble looking thing from the outside that’s cosy and extremely comfortable on the inside.

Then it was time for church, something I’ve been looking forward to: checking out this relatively new church in the city that was formed only after I left. Met up with Sharene and four of her friends (an Indonesian, an Australian Born Chinese and two Singaporeans) at Planetshakers City Church where I had an indescribable time. We’ll be going for Easter service this Thursday night where Delirious (a band from the UK will be performing. It is soooo gonna be rocking good! And Sonicflood (another band, from America) will be performing at Richmond AOG the coming Monday so I’ve definitely got myself a few good things lined up. It’s great to know you can still have fun without having to spend. :) After church was dinner at Chinatown which hasn’t really changed much, from what I remember. I ordered Wanton Noodles which came in a bowl of double portion noodles and twelve full size wantons. :P

I made a trip to the city again this afternoon to get some banking done. The weather's such that the sun is shining really bright to remind you that slapping on layers of SPF is important, yet you don't feel sweaty and yucky as the cool breeze is windy enough to send chills up your spine and a cowboy's hat off his head.

Despite all the good, there is always the bad. Crime rates in Melbourne has gone up quite a lot and I’ve been hearing more than my share of what I need to hear on break-ins, rapes, stabbing and robbing…The city still holds a lot of weirdos walking around asking for spare change and some strange people lurking around. Walking back to my friend’s place at night isn’t safe as it’s a dark and very long road, so it was really neat that one of Sharene’s mates offered to walk me back last night. For the coming days, I’d be trying to run my errands and sort things out during the day so that I get back before the sun goes down, at least till I find my own place which I’m praying would be in a strategic location.

There’s lots to be done and learned, starting up in a foreign land from scratch. I’ve left behind a lot of people and things who are dear to me, the sense of familiarity, contentment, comfort and routine; to pursue further, the people and things that will soon be making their/ its impact in my life, the unrecognizable, the new, the fear and the challenge.

I cannot thank each and everyone of you enough, for all that you’ve done, personally and collectively as the TCG. Do know that divided, you each have a special place, a unique role in my memory…something shared that can never be erased; and united, you guys are a force stronger than the power of food! Or, wait, does it work because of the power of food? :P

Wished I could spend more time and had met some of you earlier. Time has always been a factor against human nature. I believe everything happens for a reason and at the risk of sounding terribly cliché, we’ve got to seize every moment. And with that, let me sign off by sending you guys my best wishes in your own personal journeys and love from the land down under, across 4000 miles…

;)


Flying over Alice Springs.