Singapore - Perth

Day ONE
My day began at 7am. Started doing my final packing of toiletries and making sure i brought what i needed. 730am, left home for Changi Airport together with mom. Checked-in abt 8am. Cos our flight was at 930am.

We were kinda early to board the plane... so we shopped a little in the airport transit area. Boy! there were alot of changes ever since my last trip to Melbourne back in 2002. there were new sofa areas that had the huge LCD screen with different channels such as ESPN soccer, golf, NEWS from America etc... so u can see many of them just slacking at the comfy seats in front of the huge screens. Shops such as DFS Galleria, Perfume, CD shops, bookshops etc...

955am TAKE OFF.

3pm TOUCH DOWN at Perth Airport. Just smelling the air of Perth gave me the "ahhhh..." feeling.. just out of a sudden i feel like i'm in paradise, away from sch, sch work, union work and every responsibility i had in singapore. Enthusiatically walked around the PErth airport and had to find our way around to the immigration level. We were greeted by THREE HuGe DOGS that sniffed everyone's bag... OMG i had the shocked of my life! after which during the baggage collection part... had to pass through again this declaration custom.. so ma fan i tell u! cos my mom had brought food stuffs for my brother... so we had to show the security guards what we had brought... she practically opened every single food item we brought... one of the many are the Chicken Curry Myojo Cup noodles.. we got that cos let say at night hungry or wat we could at least boil and makan right... she asked me to open the noodles cover.. after which had to tear open the seasoning packet... in there was chicken bits.. didn't noe we could not bring and poultry products into Perth. OMG.. its just perserved chicken bits.. u noe right? the small tiny bits... she told me "sorry u have to take all these bits out." i was like HUH? i had 4 cup noodles.. so i had to open each one by one.. in my mind i was thinking what harm could these few tiny chicken bits bring??? but no choice la had to take dem out one by one...

Cleared the custom. Mom and i were greeeting by my brother who surprised us by coming to pick us up! so Sweet of him! hee.. =) Boarded the car and went to our hotel Criterion to check-in. the hotel isn't like what we expected.. in the hotel brochure my mom showed me.. it was okie u noe. but when i was there.. the hotel has this funny smell.. like bad stench of smoke! *think PErth shld also enforce the policy of no-smoking in air-conditioned places... so our room no. 223. Placed our bags and went off to meet my mom's friend whose family have been PR since 6 yrs back. her name was auntie eunice and her daughter, desiree studying at UWA.

We headed for a chinese restaurant.. cos bo bian la.. my brother and dem are home-sick so they wanted chinese food. After dinner headed down to Garden City. A very big shopping mall~! so many surf-shops!!! yeAy! but could only shop for abt 1 hr.. cos the mall closed at 9pm that day.

After shopping headed to Auntie's Eunice place for some slacking session. Just to chit-chat and meet up with Auntie Rosalind (another of my mom's friend) haha.. i noe. so many ppl right? So the young adults, my brother, desiree, feal and me just spent our time chatting basically on air force.

Day TWO

1) HEaded down to the Flying Training School in PErth where my brother trains. We were oriented by my brother and feal who are trainees. We were shown the equivilent "control tower". huge maps of their base, their take off stations etc... we went to the lounge.. its a place where they just slack after a day's of work. This lounge had a beer bar... billard table, table-tennis table. the ambience was great! on the wall, there were rows of plaques with the graduated course of air force batches.. and on the ceiling, were the names and course no. of the batches in training. Also, in the school they had their very own sports hall. indoor basketball, rock-climbing, pull up stations and also a VERY well equipped GYM. No wonder air force trainees are all well built and just lean and fit.. *honestly.

2) Went to St Thomas Church, nearby to the camp. it was said there was a miracle that happened there.. many years ago... the whole plot of land were nothing but farms, plantations etc... so its necessary to have water. however, the area often experience drought, so the farmers prayed to God and Mother mary of their problem. and finally heaven was moved, one of the land had water springing out from the well... taDaa! water!

3) After which went to The Margaret River Chocolate Company.. its like "Charlie the Chocolate Factory". Where chocolates are made! i LurVe chocolates! tried the champagne chocolate, brandy flavoured and also the rocher chocolate. it just heavenly...

4)Went for Good Friday mass at St Mary Church. its a very small church compared to Singapore. we had to stand outside of the church main doors... it was packed! fully packed! but something good was the weather.. it wasn't all stuffy or hot.. the weather was simply fabulous... sunny but breezy! just like being in a air-con room and cool wind blowing! love it!

5) as it was Good Friday, many shops weren't open including food courts and restaurants... so we headed to auntie eunice's place for home-cooked dinner. Pizza and pasta!

Day Three

1) Went to Swan River to check out their dragon boat races. many competitiors from all sort of age participated. *some teams were made up of elderly ppl... impressive~!

2) headed down to Fremantle Flea Market to just soak up the Perth Culture. Buskers were performing all around.. and they are not like the Singapore buskers where ppl just look and walk. the buskers at fremantle.. can really roar the crowd and get them to cheer, clap and do all sorts of crazy stunts... they attract a huge crowd everytime! and definitely make alot of money from them! popularity to the extend where ppl acutally queue or grab a seat once a performance is over for the next show in the next hour! yEs! that's how different it is!

3) walked down to Cicerello's. its like Fish & Co. but definitely much better den that! just visualize the ambience of the blue river and yacht boats parked and there u are sitting down enjoying ur meal... we ate Lobster with oyster, Fish and Chips and others.. all these were in big portions and super delicious. something u can't get in singapore!

4) Headed to King's Park.this place is equivilent to Mount Faber. Except the scenery different, the ambience, the weather... its just a place where the rich and famous stays! also, where the rich and famous have their wedding receptions! from the top of King's Park... u can see PErth skyline.. really beau-tiful!

DAy Four

EAster Sunday!

1) Headed to church... can't remember the name! ooops =X
but we were very lucky, the archbishop was celebrating the mass... haha i mean how often u go to another country where the archbishop celebrates mass and on Easter Sunday???!!! haha... God's Gift for easter! (",)

In Perth, Good Friday, EAster Sunday and EAster Monday, are public holidays all shops are closed! so didn't had much shopping to do.

2) Scabborough Beach!!! the best beach i've ever been so far! its just like the beach in the seeting of "Something's Gotta GIve" if u had caught that show.. u would visualize what i meant. The waves were huge.. to me of cos! something rare and has not happened in singapore waters. haha... water clear blue... sand.. soft and just lovely. weather.. bright sunny but breezy with cool air, temperature abt 20degrees. Wonderful isn't it? My brother got the surfboards and taught me how to do it verbally.. he said " okie when u see the wave coming, turn around and start peddling" before i knew it the wave was just directly above me.. scared of cos... quickly turn and peddle. But haha to no avail.. wave overpowered me.. i was hit so hard by the wave it flipped me upside down in the water... sea water went in every hole of my face! took some time to recover back... haha! however i tried again and again until i finally succeeded. it was very fun la.. once ya get the hang of it, once ya on the huge wave.. u feel like ur flying and the water is moving at a very fast speed towards shore. and if the waves are powerful and strong enough.. it will bring u right on shore and land u there.. just stoning.. cos the feeling was just superb!!! really!!! i had the best time theree!!!

DAy Five

1) Went to Mandurah, its a place for crabbing (catch crabs) and just sea-side enjoyment. not that u can play in the waters or whatever cos there are crabs! it just like huge patches of grass where u can just bring ur own chairs, mats, and picnic basket to just slack and enjoy ur day. playing frisbee or rugby. with the fantastic weather... it just only makes things better!!!

as its Easter monday, again most of the shops are closed with the exception of a few. however shops being closed did not deterred the crowd away.

2) went for this river cruise... to dolphin watch and check out the houses by the river. The houses there are just fantastic.. just like a dream house u always dreamt of. I was astonished when i saw this " the boat turned into this channel lane.. and i saw a house yes a HOUSE, with its own tennis court and a Yacht boat parked at its door step. how cool is this????!!! and just infront of their houses... instead of koi ponds.. they have dolphins swimming in the river!!! *ain't bluffing!!! cool right? just so "aHhhh!!!" during that whole cruise spotted dolphins swimming and came up close with one.. but couldn't touch it cos the boat was quite high up... and the houses there are all really really pretty, classy, modern and lovely.

DAy Six

Finally morning, woke up early to go shopping. Yeay.. u heard right! shopping.. finally! shopped around our hotel area which was HAY Street its just like Orchard road... its where the shopping centres and shops are all located. COs we had to be back at hotel by 130pm cos the coach will bring us back to the hotel. we had only abt 3 hrs to cover all the shops. the shops were nice, salesgirls very friendly not like singaporean salesgirls that gives u the "u must buy" feeling.

soon after, i realised i was on the coach to Perth Airport. Journey has ended!

On the plane.. i had a bad experience with the SIA stewardess.. the quality of them really dropped alot. a whole lot! lemme tell u why... the way they walk in their uniform which is a kebaya which has a slit in the middle of the skirt.. so when u walk u can actually glimpse a little of their legs la... *not chikopek k.. its just the way it is. before that i had requested for a coke.. so she went to get it for me. on the way back, i saw her and she was walking back to me. and the way she walked back was so EeeeEe.. walked as if she was a guy and wearing a pants.. a legs were far apart.. and she was slouching. AHHH!!! *maybe i shld feedback to SIA next time... but its really a turn-off.

There! my 6 days in Perth!!! hopefully i can persuade my mom to burn to CD. cos she developed into pictures. so kinda troublesome to go scan and upload. too many too scan.. sure bOnkers! Hoped i didn't bore u? (",)