Bits and Pieces
27th January
8.30pm: Checked in with my sister, Min, at KLIA. Was a little teary then, despite being my second time to Melbourne. Gonna miss everyone I was about to leave behind. T_T Got a last-minute upgrade from economy to business class, so Min and I need not worry (much) about excessive baggage, constraint space and aircraft food. XD
10pm: Plane took off. Did not sleep much on the aircraft, cabin was kinda stuffy. ><" I think I actually spent more time EATING than sleeping during my 8-hour flight. Why just minutes after take-off, refreshments were served. All in all, I had a few glasses of juice, a few sticks of chicken satay (complete with cucumbers, onions, ketupat and peanut sauce), an entree of prawn cocktail with some salad, tortellini (ie: pasta stuffed with cheese, accompanied with tomatoes and olives at the side), two bowls of fresh fruit, an egg tart with vanilla sauce, and a continental breakfast (ie: yoghurt, oat muffin, fruits) complete with a huge mug of coffee! D*mn, I did eat a lot!!! ><" The movie and music selections were also very extensive. Very unlike what I am used to get in economy. The seat was also really comfortable, being "remote-controllable" and all....it came complete with a "massage" component too! Worked great for lower back pains. Services were WAY better and I was even given a traveller's kit (with compliments from MAS and Loc'citane). Man, do the business class people get a lot of previlledges.... =\
28th January
8.30am (Australian time): Landed in Melbourne Airport safely. Was still bloated from all the food I had on plane. Made through the customs and collected my bags with Min. A customs officer, for some unknown reason, thought I came from "The Land of the Rising Sun", so he greeted me in simple Japanese (eg: konichiwa, sayonara etc). o_O My uncle and cousin, Ping, took us back to their house. Will be staying with them for the next three years or so.
Between 9am-5.30pm: Pretty much a blur. Spent most of my time sleeping at home. And unpacking. Did go out in the afternoon for lunch with my uncle and Min. Went for a short walk afterwards. Melbourne didn't change much in the last 4 years. Thankfully. =P
8.30pm: Got stung by a bee while I was unpacking in my bedroom. A pretty big one too! And on the ventral aspect of my right forearm, no less. Never realized how painful a bee sting would be. Burned like H*ll. Within minutes, the area surrounding the site became red and oedematous. Thankfully my cousin-doctor was STILL around then (he was about to go for night-shift at a hospital), so he got the sting out. *phew* Was on anti-histamines for a full day, just in case I get some anaphylactic shock later. [The swelling resolved in two days. Now I have a little scar which I can proudly "show-off" =P]
29th January
Was quite a blur. Spent most of my time at home, watching House MD Season Two. Oh, and I visited Victoria Market with Uncle and Min after lunch. XD
30th January
Went for a LONG walk with Min around Melbourne, or to be more specific, around the University of Melbourne and Trinity College. Min remembered the routes already, which is really good. XD She also managed to purchased a number of books she needs when her course begins. Textbooks are bl**dy expensive here. Her accounting textbook alone (approx. 300 pages max) was priced at AUD107.95. That's almost RM293!!! ><" Thank goodness I brought many of my medical books along!!! Heard they cost a bomb here....*sniff* Took a very LONG "nap" later. A four-hour one. o_O
31st January
10am: Visited Museum Victoria (aka Melbourne Museum) with Min. We walked instead of taking the bus. Great way to exercise by the way. =P Took us about 25 minutes to get there. The weather was at a cool 23 degrees centigrade, and it was even cooler when the wind blew. The museum is huge, so much so that we couldn't complete the whole "tour" despite clocking over three hours in the building! Had a light lunch in the museum cafe before we proceed to Lygon St. Got a couple of provisions over there in Safeway before we went home.
8pm: Visited the Suzuki Night Market, a flea market which runs in Victoria Market every summer. Something like the pasar malam back in Malaysia, but this one closes at 10pm, has live bands performing (there was two when I was there: one rock band, another traditional folk-ish trio) and (unfortunately) does not have as many things as opposed to what you'd get in Malaysia's. =\ The variety of food available is good though - you could sample anything from Bush tucker (Kangaroo burger anyone?) to German bratwurst, Spanish paella, Dutch pancakes, Mexican tacos, African cuisine, Indian curries, Oriental street foods and even Malaysian delights (there's Ice-kacang people!) XD Prices were a little on the high side though, especially when you convert to Malaysian Ringgit. Sniff.
9.30pm: Walked home with uncle, cousin and Min. Stopped by at a video rental store and borrowed a couple of CDs. Min needed Othello and Farenheit 451 videos for her upcoming Literature lectures (she wanted to watched them first before reading the texts. Easier ma...=P) She got them, and I watched Farenheit 451 with her till 12.30am. It was a pretty "abstract" film, so I found the concepts pretty interesting. My uncle slept half-way through though, so you get the picture. hehehe.
That's it for now. Pretty dull, no? =p I guess things will pick up once my course begins. XD More updates later!
