Holiday: The Land Down Under
Day of Flight: (Thursday)
Few days before the day of flight, my aunt called to ask if I was afraid. Well, although I answered no however during the day itself hell was I panicky. It was the first time I travelled alone. Well, it didn’t went as bad as I thought. The instructions given to me helped quite a lot even though it didn’t went perfectly smooth.
Being new at this travelling thingy, I was given advice to book a corridor seat which I eventually did. This is exactly the part which made me feel like a country bumpkin. You see, there wasn’t a chair in front of mine ... you know what this means? This basically means that I didn’t see the TV thingy anywhere. I had no choice but to approach the air stewardess and ask for directions. Major embarrassment.
People say Singapore Airlines food is much better as compared to other airlines. If Singapore Airlines food is “Good”, I would never want to be served food by another airline, it might probably taste worse than hospital food.
The most interesting that happened to me on the day itself would be the conversations I had with my dad. Dad asked me an interesting question: “When is a child closest to the parents?” My personal opinion would be that when we get older. I felt that when we were children, it’s not as though we were given a choice rather we were dependent on them. I thought that the time spent does not matter rather, it is how you spend the “limited” time you have. Dad gave me his personal take on it, it was the direct opposite. He felt that as children grow older, they become more independent and they no longer need their parents, this causes a drift. Ironically the ultimate aim of a parent is to nurture a child to an adult so that he could take care of him or herself in the future. Doesn’t that mean raising a child to leave you? This reminds me of the show “Money not Enough 2” which I caught the day before.
I believe this does not apply only to bringing up children. If you come to think about it, many at times people are forced to do things it is only when they are forced to do such things do they realize the joy in it. For instance, which child would want to attend school if given a choice? But yet is through being forced to go to school that he makes friends. Perhaps as we grow older, got less and less of these forced “Opportunities”
Day 1: (Friday)
My first day in Australia brought back jolts of memory from the past. Although things have changed over the past 9 years but there are things that don’t change too. Like the lottery thingy for instance and other buildings. Well, recalling the past is not always positive you know? Here comes the negative part. The weather is very cold. I knew it was cold all along but because it’s winter, morning and night is way colder than ever. It’s like below 5 degrees at times.
Imagine waking up not wanting to leave your blanket which you must and stepping foot on the freezing cold floor. Feels like the ducky which steps in the cold pond going BWUUU! I wasn’t really used to the lifestyle, the place seems rather too wide. It’s times like this which you miss the “Smallness” of Singapore. It takes like at the very least to travel 15 minutes around places. This could extend to 45 minutes. Just doing a few things and the day will be gone. In the past night falls at around 4-5pm. The only change perhaps would be because it’s winter at the moment meaning spring is about to approach and night falls around 6 or so.
Managed to mingle with Fendi (My aunt’s dog whom I last saw at least 8 years ago) and the guinea pigs (Ah Bui and Mogi)
I ate dim sum for lunch, slept afterwards and went for Korean BBQ for dinner. The food here rocks, but that’s the problem. I would probably return 10kg heavier.
Went to the City to check out stuff with my cousin in the evening. The cool thing about the public transports here is that they have a special lane for it. Take for instance in the City, they have roads and lanes built only for these buses that way there won’t be traffic jams. Cool right? But despite that you would still have to walk a distance sometimes due to the place being too big. (People in Singapore start considering yourselves blessed.)
I realized that living expenses aren’t cheap here. Although the pay here is much higher than in Singapore but the prices of things pretty much makes up for everything. You could imagine things being 2x more expensive not putting conversion rates into consideration. (Imagine this, a bottle of coke costs Sg$1.75. Over here, it costs like Aus$3.50 (Using conversion rates it would be like $3.50 * 1.3 = $4.55. Mega Expensive!). To get to the City one would have to bus fare of $3.50. That’s like major expensiveness ~
(Ah-Bui. After seeing this, most people would believe that it is a girl, apparently not.)
(Ah-Bui and his brother Mogi)
(Cute Right?)
Day 2: (Saturday)
I recall my friends asking me why do I not want to work during the holidays? I always responded saying that there was no need for money. Well, maybe at that point of time there really wasn’t much money could do me. But today was such a time like some others where there was a need for money.
During the morning I along with my younger aunt, my cousin, her boyfriend and my Cousin’s friend Elisa went to Harbour Town after breakfast. It was basically a place where you find lots of branded goods sold at a cheaper rate. Even after putting in the conversion rates into consideration it was still much cheaper than usual. Basically the main idea was that there were lots of things that I wanted to buy, but because I did not have much money I couldn’t buy much. In fact I had to depend on my aunt and cousin which made me feel terrible.
I’m like coming to 20 and I practically don’t have much savings. In fact I don’t even know lots of stuff that I should know by my age.
Ok. Set aside the guilt talk, after shopping at harbour town we went to Peter’s Fish Market to have lunch. The name of the shop sounds lame right? In actual fact hell no. Basically it was a fish and chips store where you get to select whatever seafood that you like ranging from your typical fillet to lobsters. After selecting, they’ll cook it for you. That’s like so cool I don’t even recall having a store like that in Singapore. (Pardon my lack of Knowledge)
After lunch we went to Surfer’s paradise. Well basically all these regions are near gold coast. Surfer’s paradise like the name suggests has lots of surfers around, so the goods revolves around your typical Rip Curl, Billabong, Globe and Vans (This 2 are like skateboarding -.-). I happened to pass by a shop that sold really offensive yet interesting shirts. Check this out: The first shirt had the sign FBI, with words below the large bolded words saying female body inspector. The second shirt had this written on it “Drunk? Free Breathalyzer below” and an arrow pointing downwards. The third shirt was much simpler with the text “I’m with stupid ”. We lingered around till it was 6.30 and we met up with my older aunt and uncle along with some friends (Johny, Nancy and Rachel ... that is if I didn’t remember wrongly) went to have Japanese dinner. I had my favourite food SASHIMI !
After a bloating dinner we took an hour trip up to Nerang Mountain at the national park. We visited the “Glowing Cave”, a cave filled with fireflies. It took us sometime around 10 minutes to get to the cave. It was like nearly midnight and damn was it cold. Man was it awesome. Although it was only 5 minutes long but I enjoyed myself big time, it’s the first time I actually seen this. (Set aside the other time I seen it when I was 6 years old. What the hell do kids remember about holidays anyway.)
Apparently I didn’t know it till then, that if you took a picture or flash some source of light at the fireflies they would die. Apparently some lame kids must have said “Hey Mom LOOK! LOOK! Fireflies” they would immediately direct their light source towards it and there goes everything ...
Apparently if you focus your vision at 1 firefly, the light emitted by the other fireflies would seem less concentrated being more spread apart. Although that is what I observed, perhaps this is just some physics bull crap. This reminds me of one thing that I really want to do in the future with “The Right One”, that is to go star gazing. But this new awesome experience will be added to my list of must do’s. Although I couldn’t take a picture of it and even if I took a video of it most people won’t be able to see a damn thing. Sometimes certain things are not meant to be stored in pictures but experienced for a short moment. Compare this, looking at a picture of fireflies as compared to experiencing it itself. If you don’t believe me that taking a picture won’t be good, just go google picture fireflies. You probably won’t give much of a damn. This can be compared to experiencing fireworks to that of looking at fireworks on a picture. (I did suggest video though =X)
(My Cousin and her friend Elisa)
(Biao jie, xiao yi and myself at Peter's Fish Market)
(Cousin and her BF Brandon)
(A store at surfer's paradise)
Day 3: (Sunday)
I had to wake up early to go to church with everyone. I was tired and what’s worse is that it’s a mandarin speaking church. (FYI my Chinese isn’t particularly good, C5 you know ...) I thought it would be terrible, but apparently it turned out to be awesome. Although the pastor didn’t look very powerful to me but hell was his sermon good. He talked about faith. Brining in parts of the bible such as Abraham, Noah and Moses. (Hebrews Chapter 13)
Too bad I didn’t bring my bible otherwise I would have written everything down. I really have to start writing down these important stuff. I am so lazy !
After church, I met my Cousin’s best friend ‘Venus’. What’s interesting about her was that she was getting married and she’s only like 21 years old. Come to think of it I think I can only get married at 31 with very little savings. (Considering what all my friends call me ... ‘Gramps’. I think I would probably be filled with white hair )
After church we had lunch at a hongkong restaurant and later on we went to strawberry farm. We went to pluck strawberries and I found this strawberry the size of my palm, hell was it big. Right after that, we got chocolate sauce and ate our strawberries dipped into it. (I love Strawberries with sugar. NOW CHOCOLATE !). Besides just eating strawberries we had strawberry smoothie too. I manage to take some photos with my aunt’s camera. Damn! It’s times like this when I wished I had a camera.
Went back home to have steamboat. After coming to Australia I am really worried about my diet regime, I keep eating and eating and eating.
(Stunned ~ The biggest strawberry I have ever seen)
(Wei Wei my Younger Aunt =D)
(My Older Aunt and me)
(My biao jie pretty right!)
Day 4: Monday
Finally I have some beauty sleep. Slept till 11.30am. Weird sleep though, I had 3 consecutive dreams. 1 was super action packed about me and Kevin fighting Hellboy. (Don’t ask me why hell boy)
If mom asked me what did I enjoy most during my stay, I would tell her it was beauty sleep. When living in a colder country, you never feel like waking up because it’s so comfy.
Went to Direct Factory Outlets to get myself a pair of Jeans (I didn’t realize the Jeans that I had been wearing was the only long pants I brought... -.-‘’’). After looking around for an hour or so finally got myself a pair from Jeanswest. Never heard of it before but apparently it’s a store that sells jeans that has lots of fits. Xin Xin went to get some stuff for Wei’s Birthday which was tomorrow. It’s times like this when I feel bad because I didn’t have much money.
Apparently I really see the importance of money in this short time span. I definitely must get a job when I get back to Singapore.
By late afternoon I checked out Garden City, the mall that I used to visit when I was a kid. Bought some food and checked out various stores. Went back home and had steamboat once again.
(Apparently Girls take pictures everywhere don’t they? Haha!)
Day 5: Tuesday
You know in life, there has to be sweet and sour. This applies to holidays too. Apparently, today was suppose to be the main reason why I came to Australia but I was dying of boredom at the thought of it. Woke up early in the morning to go to University of Queensland, apparently I was suppose to enquire about my education stuff. Didn’t really understood why I had to do this because IDP the Singapore correspondent provided me with sufficient information. Anyway it’s all my fault because I suggested to mom that it would be good if I experienced life on campus itself.
The campus was pretty huge. One thing I hate about overseas universities is that they got so many campus and some aren’t even near one another. Imagine if me and my best friend went to the same university but different course, to our astonishment do we realize that different campus. LOL!
Apparently, the university wasn’t as state of the art as I imagined. But from what I heard it was really prestigious and the facilities are considered not too bad. My aunt was right about 1 thing. The campus is really huge and walking from place to place can be extremely tiring.
I am really worried about coming over here. First of all, I will be skipping 2 years of university and jumping right to third year. What if I am not ready? Furthermore RP’s system of “Not memorizing” will cause me to have serious blunders. Most importantly I will be away from all my loved ones (this includes my friends T_T .... PS don’t forget the food. LOL!)
Although I happen to be on holidays, however how I yearn to return to Singapore. I love everything there. Many people know me as one that does no travel often. That is certainly true. During my secondary school days my parents were rather strict on me and I never really ventured around Singapore alone much. Although I really don’t feel like leaving Singapore, however it is not right for me to be selfish to think of only myself. I understand that certain things are destined to go a particular way and I have no choice but to ride the waves. No point crying over spilled milk. Rather what should be done is to cherish the moments with all those I love in Singapore. I have decided to go on this food field trip with my close friends in which we would tour around Singapore eating and taking pictures of food. Perhaps I should create a new blog for it.
After viewing campus, I met up with my older aunt and uncle we had Sizzlers for lunch. It’s really delicious, I realize that although franchised, food tastes differently in different regions of the world. Take for instance Sizzlers in Australia is much better than in Singapore but KFC and Macdonalds is much better in Singapore as compared to Australia. I ate till I got guilty because I was supposed to be on a diet. I know grandma and mom would definitely ask me about food in Australia. I would definitely tell them ho jia, I eat until I want to vomit. Hahaha
Well later on at night we celebrated my younger Aunt’s Birthday. We had steak at Norman’s Hotel. Food was pretty good once again and I have to say that I was full till the extent of puking once again. [My weight fluctuates more than magnetic fields in my opinion]
(This pelican at campus looks as though he could gobble me up)
(Entrance Prerequisite: PHD. I might study and work in this building in the future =P.)
(Me and the Birthday Girl!)
(Yum Yum ~ Too bad it isn't what i ate. I always start eating forget to take picture -.-'')
(Allergic to Wine can't drink T_T)
Day 6: Wednesday
Initially I was super excited about today because I was going to movie world. But apparently it turned out to be a great disappointment. Still I enjoyed myself during certain parts of the day. Entry fee was supposed to be around $50 but spend more because of the bus fare, well apparently I felt that it wasn’t worth paying that sum of money.
I woke up super early to catch the bus, reached movie world at 10. When I received the map I knew that my hopes were crushed because apparently only got 6 rides for adults, furthermore for people who are chickened out like me only can play those not so hyper ones. Ended up playing only 2 rides and 1 4D film. Spend most of the time watching events and browsing through shops
Shrek’s 4D film was uber cool, it was unlike all those 3d rides you have in Singapore. The effects were magnificient combined with the water effects at the appropriate times. One of my favourite parts was the part with the spiders crawling up your legs and you can really feel it because they had this machine that tickles your leg .
Apparently light roller coaster is ok with me but those hardcore ones I will die on the spot. Finally I took some pictures and I saw my idol batsy. Apparently I am pretty average in height over here. The batman was taller than me T_T. I need to grow taller by 10 cm like that then 188cm =D.
I finished everything by 12.30pm but I had no choice but to stay on till 5pm till the bus arrives. I don’t know how I spend the time also. More events I guess.
After Movie world, I met up with everyone else and we went to Tomato Italian Restaurant for PIZZA !. The Pizza here are cooked in a unique way (woodfired), heard that Singapore only got 1 Italian restaurant near some restaurant that cooks this way. It tastes hell of awesome and we kept ordering pizza after pizza. Ended up with 6 pans, once again I ate till I almost dropped dead.
(Shrek's Store)
(Shrek's 4D adventure was super fun! Unlike no other 3D animated crap I have experienced)
(A picture of me at the events hall)
(Porky Pig Presenting ....... Me ...)
(I faced my fears and took a coaster ride. Was super fun!)
(I swear if you pull my beard, I'll blast your head off!)
(Apparently that's me in my car.)
(Old Car got use OK!)
(Apparently I killed time by watching beatles wannabe's)
(A building perhaps only familiar to me =D)
Day 7:Thursday
Today, I went to take different forms of public transport here. Seems lame right? Nah. Did you know Brisbane has ferry to cruise people around? Well, that wasn’t the coolest part. My cousin’s boyfriend Brandon apparently cycles to work everyday during summer. Actually that is one part of my dream life. That is to cycle to school and work, to and fro everyday. But apparently despite knowing that I was rather sad because it reminds me that I would have to leave Singapore one day.
After that, I went to visit the museum at the city. Well one interesting fact I learnt is that incubation temperature for eggs of sea turtles determines it’s gender. Later on I wandered around city and I finally bought myself a pair of shoes that I really like. It’s the first time I bought shoes with 0 advice from others. Got to start getting used to this feeling. I will be a lone wolf really soon in time to come.
(Brisbane River ... No City Cats around?)
Day 8: Friday
A super cool day today, I visited the Australian Zoo Home of the Crocodile hunter. I heard that Steve Irwin was buried in the zoo. Well, I believe that most teenagers don’t like going to the zoo apparently I do. I find that the zoo is a cool place because you would not only expand your knowledge by knowing more about animals but also experience the way in which they behave.
My favourite animal in the Zoo was the Koala’s. Well the reason wasn’t because it was Australia’s Icon, that’s only the side reason. The main reason was because I have this picture of myself when I was 7 years old carrying a Koala. When I was a kid I found Koala Bear’s super heavy, I wanted to hug them again. But apparently I didn’t get a chance to. I only got to touch them ... Oh well.
The coolest thing about the Australia Zoo is that you get to actually interact with the animals by experiencing some of them in their habitat. Meaning you get to pat them and feed some of them. I haven’t been to the Singapore Zoological Park for ages, I am hoping to visit them with some of my friends next semester. When I visited the zoo, 2 friends poped up in my mind all of a sudden. Well the trigger was because the Australian Zoo had lots of lizards running about, or rather they were iguanas (Really large ones). I believe one of my friend would be screaming and hiding while the other frantically chasing them hoping to catch them in his hat and smuggle them out.
After the zoo, I went to the City to meet up with my cousin once again. She wanted to take me to the night market, but apparently because of the fireworks tomorrow, it was closed. Major disappointment, we walked around south bank and went home after that.
(Trying too hard to face my fears -.-'')
(Stop Copying me!)
(Did you know that the one humped camel belongs to Australia? Did you know that Australia has the most number of these camels? Did you know that there are so many that it has to be exported to Saudi Arabia?)
(Koala Kawaii Desu Ne! [Ok I know i sound major gay, pretend it wasn't me who said it])
(Cute !!!)
(Act dao sei, tap you yet you don't care me!)
(Family Reunion! So many Koala Bears, the one in front look like me sia, sleeping pose so weird as if like grandpa like that.)
(Only can tap tap. No Huggies T_T)
Day 9: Saturday
Woke up early in the morning, had breakfast with both my aunt’s at Brisbane market. Later on according to plan we went bush walking at mountain Cootah. Apparently, Australia’s mountains has their own shares of their stories. This mountain was known for aborigines living there once. There was some artsy fartsy art carvings etc... well the main reason why we went there was to go bush walking. At first I was thinking 4km++ only no kick. Later on I realized that the terrain was rocky furthermore there were a lot of slopes meaning we had to walk upslope a lot. The walk took like 45minutes, well I was kind of tired after the walk and I was dying for 1 drink. Pepsi or Coke! I don’t know why but every time I participate in some tiring activity I would yearn for coke. I know it’s bad but I seem to crave for it.
In the evening I met up with my Cousin and her boyfriend. Along with my aunt and uncle, we went to Brisbane River to experience thefireworks. The place was super crowded. At least half of Brisbane was there. The entire region around the river was packed. I stood on the bridge where I could have a good view, the fireworks lasted for 30 minutes from 7 to 7.30pm. Well, it was a beautiful sight however perhaps not the most beautiful fireworks that I have been to. I recall the magnificent fireworks in Disneyland at Florida, I was only secondary 2 then. But still I could feel that it was more spectacular. However the fireworks at Brisbane is very special because even those high rise buildings released fireworks which made the entire city seem as if there was a massive fireworks display. I learnt from my cousin that the Brisbane river Festival is to promote the artsy fartsy side of Brisbane.
I was dead beat when the fireworks was over, I had to stand at a small spot with barely enough space to move my legs. Stood a total of around 50minutes. Furthermore because there were like thousands and thousands of people there, the City was so packed that it made going home kind of troublesome.
It’s 12pm at the moment and I just had a hearty chat with my aunt. I managed to learn a lot about my family and the complications within it. As the saying goes, each family has it’s own shares of problems. Family politics is something that we often come across in television dramas. Some people are lucky and they don’t have it, others who are not so fortunate happen to have it and it can bring loads of problems in their lives. 年轻的老人 That is who I am, why do I have to think about things that I am not suppose to think about at my age. Ever since young, people have always commented that me and my sister are too matured for our age, come to think about it we certainly are. Why can’t things be simple, why can’t we need lead normal lives like other people?
At times like this, it’s not who’s right and who’s wrong that matters to me. What matters is how to “Save” these people. I am aware that I can never do that alone, but with God’s help I might stand a chance. It’s not so easy to change the way people think, and even harder to change them. And to think I wanted to be a living inspiration towards others and to be their pillar of support. Where is my pillar of support?
(Not i don't want smile, it's cause the sun is too bright ...)
Day 10: Sunday
Visited church in the morning, this time we went to the English session. Apparently it was newly established and it comprised mainly of people from Taiwan, China and Malaysia. So apparently, the proficiency of English Language was not really strong. However to deliver a message, it does not always require good language skills. There was this Doctor of Theology named Dr Johan, he spoke with a rather European accent, like those I would always use when I was making jokes. This speaker talked about the Olympics initially, the motto being one world, one dream. How true is it that the goal is world peace? Many who listen to Wang Lee Hom’s song, would have realized that this dream refers to world peace. Yet how true is it that world peace is always the desired objective? Well, he related the Olympics with characters of a Champion and from there he related it back to what it means to be a Christian. He posed and interesting question, “If one day, being a Christian would be a crime, how can one be identified as a Christian. For us it isn’t world peace we are striving for but One World, One Goal.
We visited a Vietnamese Restaurant during lunch. Damn was the beef noodles one of the best that I have eaten. Once again I was full to the extent of puking.
At night we had barbecue. I ate super a lot, and once again I felt like vomiting. I really enjoyed food here, but must think of the consequences, I think I might have gained 5kg over 2 weeks. I haven’t been exercising for 2 whole weeks, I don’t feel like myself.
Day 11: Monday
My final day in Australia, managed to sleep more and wake up a little later than usual. Went to the City with my cousin to check things out once again. I managed to get some important stuff along with my shoes. Somehow today, I told myself that things might not be as bad as I think, perhaps I really was destined to live here in the future. The food is good, the jobs are good and the lifestyle perhaps one that I would like. Visited the library for a while to borrow the “Loo”. I got this feeling that in the future if the lifestyle is really too different, I might dedicate my time to reading books. Bookworm!
Had a few good chats with my cousin, manage to learn more about her. It’s kind of sad to be separated from her for so many years. We used to be super close when young, doing all sorts of silly things such as exploring the jungle near my dad’s restaurant to chasing the crazy old man near my house. Hopefully the future would be more interesting.
(The amazing pancake store, unlike any I have ever eaten)
Day 12: Tuesday (Back to Singapore Woo Hoo!)
What have I learnt during this short journey? Well I have managed to gain a lot of insights and my perspectives have changed over time.
As the saying goes, God always has a plan for it. Initially I was complaining again and again why had to stay so long. But apparently there was a reason.
During my experience, I manage to see that people should have more tolerance towards one another. I saw a reflection of myself of how I treated my dad. I was very offensive and easily infuriated. I believe most of us would feel this way when it comes to interacting with our parents. However we have to change, your parents don’t have much time with you either besides a family should be less calculative of one another. Tolerance (忍) is something that we have to train.
I have also learnt to appreciate the things I have in Singapore. I understand that I have not understood enough to consider myself a Singaporean. It’s time I get myself more exposed to Singapore in all aspects. Separation from my home through a short stay of 12 days has already caused such sadness in me. What about my permanent future departure 2 ½ years from now? I learnt to take things astride, to stop being sad but rather a happy and motivated individual, like what my friend once told me nothing is forever. Appreciate what you have at the moment. What’s most important is that you experience it before.
Lastly, I am a super motivated Perry. Tomorrow is the start of school and I am all geared up. It’s Perry 200%. I have so many goals for myself this semester. I understand that Ang-Mor are tall, and I am slightly below average as compared to most of them, so ... cannot depend on height when playing sports le have to train my reflex and speed.
I shall come upon at such force and an unstoppable momentum. There will be no more breaks for me. You don’t see batman and other superheroes having off days? They work 24/7 everyday be it rain or shine, no such thing as public holiday.
Goals ...
1. 4.0 GPA this semester
2. Physically Fit by the 10th week
3. To become a fabulous point guard
4. Spend more time with my friends
5. Experience Singapore my home
the origin.11:21 PM