Destination : Australia

Today, we went to the Queen Victoria Market to get more things as we - mainly me - don’t have enough to keep for ourselves and our friends.

We bought some boomerang fridge magnets, more koala clips, some more boomerangs, two purses - shaped like a koala and a kangaroo head - and a kangaroo pencil box with a few tea towels.

Later, my mum and I went to a doughnut van and bought two for $1.80. There was strawberry jam inside them.

[I just figured that doughnut is the English spelling and the American spelling is donut]

After that, we went to the city. We went to somewhere near Swanston Street. My dad parked in the parking lot and we went up to Elizabeth Street.

Soon, we were in the Royal Arcade. It was a very nice building with marble floors. First, we stopped at a place called Babushkaa. It was a shop that sold Russian dolls. There were many varieties of them.

Later, we went to a shop called Westminster. It sold very delicate things that were beautiful but very expensive. Some of their goods’ prices went down a LOT! Amongst the things we bought were two musical carousels. One for me and one for my aunt as her birthday is coming up. It was only $19.90 - which was, very, very, VERY cheap!. We also bought 4 nice brooches with ribbons on it. It was only $2 each, which came down from $29.95 - how shocking, I know.

After that, we went to buy new shoes for me. I wanted some boots. Because I live in Malaysia, I could only buy the ankle-high ones. I bought some black ones for $34.90.

They were very nice. I had fun with them. It went nicely with my black jeans. I was very happy!

Unfortunately, I have to go back home tonight. Our flight is at 0015hrs, Melbourne time. Its sad but, hey, at least I got new boots!

Australia - the Land Down Under

Hey people!

I’m really sorry I haven’t been posting new articles as I have so much homework and the latest exams.

So anyway, I’m in Australia now and it’s been 2 days and 1 night but it feels like its been a week. How I got here? Well, let me tell you the story…

My mom had this work in Melbourne, Australia on the 27th of May. My dad wanted to go there too because this is a great opportunity to travel to a country we haven’t been to before. So he booked an apartment in a motel on Flemington Street.

We boarded a Malaysia Airlines B777-200. It was a very, very long flight. They served dinner and breakfast, but more on that later. I, as usual, got the seat next to the window. For a 12-year-old, it was a quite boring flight. The TV was there but I have seen all of the movies. The games weren’t very exciting either. I was quite restless because I was just in Melaka the day before for a motivation camp and slept for 15 hours straight. But that was another story. Even though I got a very long nap, I was still restless on the flight. Eventually, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, there was still 5 more hours to go. By then, I had run out of ideas to do. I tried to sleep but I got awaken by my hair - trust me, that isn’t very relaxing. In the end, I had slept the total of 2 hours. But that still leaves 3 hours. By then, I gave up on trying to entertain myself and took my book from my bag - why didn’t I think of that in the first place?? - and read it. By the time I reached the middle of the book, I got a bit bored. So I walked towards the toilet at the back.

There were three people waiting for the toilet so the first thng that popped into my mind was “Now <i>there’s</i> something I can do!”. As the third person went into the toilet, a friendly stewardess was bringing some perfume out to sell them on the plane. Finally, when I came out of the toilet, the was still 2 and a half hour left.

However, I managed to survive the period of time and when it was time to come out of the airplane, it was dawn in Melbourne.

The first thing we did was get our bags, get our grey Ford Falcon and drove off to find our motel.

Our motel is called Park Squire Inn and its very cosy. How it feels to finally reach land!

A Famosa Fun!

Yesterday, mybest friend Syahana - or as I usually call her Hana - came over. My dad thought it would be fun to go to Alor Gajah so he arranged a trip to Melaka. We immediately contacted her mom to approve permission. When her mother said yes, we all started packing.

The entrance to the water world was the same one as the entrance to the Animal Safari. On our way to the Water World entrance, we passed a baby elephant. My dad bought us some sugar canes to feed the friendly animal. It was trained to bow in a way of saying *Thank You*.

We went to the wave pool first. We had loads of fun. There were waves and it was fantastic!

Soon, it started to rain. We headed off to the Side Walk Cafe to rest for a while. We ate our KFC lunch we had bought earlier before we started our journey.

When the rain had *calmed down*, my mom took us to the Lazy River and the Arabian Village, where there were slides. It was so much fun! We hope to go there again!!

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Yesterday evening, I went with my dad to Uncle Eric Woon’s house to celebrate Chinese New Year. I met my friend, Yean Hui, and her sister, Yean Yi. I also met their mother, Aunty Kim.

Their house was very spacious and nice. It turns out that Yean Hui, Yean Yi and Aunty Kim also play the piano. So anyways, they offered me and my dad some Mandarin oranges, some tarts and some crisps. We also drank apple juice together with the goods. 

Soon after, I went up with Yean Hui and we played internet for a while. Since Yean Hui and I have the same phone model, she showed me how to download music and all those stuff into the phone.

Unfortunately, later we had to go home. But we had loads of fun visiting them.

Thanks for having us over to your house!

I Got His Autograph!

Today, in the midst of a very dull day, Papa gave me a call and said that he has a surprise for me. Later, true enough, he gave me his notebook which said:

When I read it, I was practically thrilled!  

It seems that earlier that same day, Papa went to a conference and he met Dr Sheikh. He told him all about me and asked if he could send a note to me. So YAY!

Hospital Holidays

Since my grandfather did an un-scheduled heart-bypass surgery(21st Nov.) in the beginning of my school hols, my holidays are now spent at the hospital. Me, my mum and my aunt are taking ’shifts’ sleeping in the hospital. I haven’t been blogging that much as I leave home early in the morning and come back late at night.

We have been having picnics at the hospital and literally making it our second home. My maid will cook dinner for us and ‘ala carte’ for my grandfather. But sometimes me and my cousin will buy food from the canteen downstairs (the food is so delicious!).

Anyway, my grandfather had been coughing a lot as he was a smoker. But last week’s Tuesday, when my grandfather had another one of his bad-bad-bad cough, his old blood ozed out from the gap in his chest wound. Luckily, his cardiologist, Dr. Daud, was there and immediately sent for the Emergency nurses. So he had to do another surgery on  3rd Dec. which was to stitch back his chest bone.

But at least now my dad has found a place where there is internet connection, I have been able to contact my friends through the Yahoo chat. My classmate’s mum is working as a nurse here and her son (my classmate, Avyi) always hangs out at the chairs in front of the suite that my grandfather is in as his family member is admitted in the room next door. And now I’m much more happier then before. And my grandfather may be going out next week so that’s good news………..hope that happens!

P. Ramlee, the Musical

Last Friday night, Papa brought me to watch P.Ramlee the Musical. Papa, Mama and me were supposed to sit in the upper circle while my grandparents sat at the main seats. Since my grandfather didn’t want to go, he had asked my aunt to replace him. When I found out about this thing - which was the theatre day - I begged my aunt to let me sit at the main seats with my grandmother and her to replace me in the upper circle. Mama said I was lucky to not sit upstairs as they could only see the heads and voices only.

So anyway, the main casts were Sean Ghazi (P.Ramlee), Liza Hanim (Saloma), Atilia (Junaidah), Melissa Saila (Norizan) and the special appearance, Siti Nurhaliza (Azizah).The co-stars were Wan Kenari Ibrahim (D Harris), Joseph Gonzales (BS Rajhans), Chedd Eddie Yusoff (Sukardi), Zeqhty Nattrah Ramli (Junainah), Mohd Fauzuly Hamdan Tahir (Sukarmaji) and Colin Kirton and Douglas Lim (Run Run and Runme Shaw). But my favorite cast are the children. They act three by three. The night I was present was Muhammad Syafie Naswip - also Mukhsin from the Malay movie ‘Mukhsin’ - (Ramlee), Emeer Iskandar (Sukardi) and Rachel Wesley (Azizah). The other nights would be Mikhil Merican (Ramlee), Wan Ramzizul Zaimi (Sukardi) and Nurazliana Haslin (Azizah).

The show was magnificent! I was a bit amazed of how Sean Ghazi looks and sounds like P.Ramlee. And - for the first time - I knew who P.Ramlee married first and that he liked Azizah since they were in Primary school.

My favorite characters that night was P.Ramlee and Norizan. The reason I liked the character Norizan is because that I liked the way she sang, shouted and half-ran around P.Ramlee’s ‘room’ in the old-fashioned ‘baju ikan duyung‘. That particular scene was amazing. The other scenes that I love were the scenes when they were children and the scenes about Saloma and P.Ramlee. It was simply fantastic!

How I wish I could turn back time and watch that show over and over again!

The Holiday:Day 2

Day 2

We got up early to go swimming. We either wake up early and go swimming or wake up a bit later because that day, we planned to go to Singapore, my mum’s hometown (Papa wanted to leave at 11 am, no delays). After, about an hour, we (me and Aliya) grumpily got out of the pool. We dried ourselves and went u to our rooms. We dropped off my aunt and Aliya at level 7, where their room is.

It was a long way to the causeway, plus the traffic jam there. My aunt and Aliya followed us too. Aliya took a short nap on the way, as for me, I think I did. But I did remember I closed my eyes.

At the causeway, there is only one thing that I love there, which is watching them stamp the passports. As some of you might have guess, I’m the kind of person that loves everything. Especially clerk duties. Somehow, it is very fun to do that.

So anyway, once we were in Singpore, we went to my late grandfather’s grave. Later, Mama and Papa went to pray at the surau as I, my aunt and Aliya waited in the car, listening to Aliya’s cries about wanting to see her ‘old, old’ grandfathers which she had never bothered to mention the whole time.

Then, we went to Metro, when Papa wanted to buy new shirts. My aunt went there to look for clothes for my cousins, Balqis and Zulaikha, and of course for Aliya. Before this, I usually go there to buy some spy gadgets. But since Mama heard the news of Metro being so-called ’shut down’, we stopped going there. But Papa insisted on going so we went and I bought a listening device in the shape of a remote controlled car. I can hear through walls, for about 75 feet away from the car.

After that, we went to Mustafa to shop again but this time, it is more of a other-then-clothes type of shopping. Papa bought 3 pairs of socks, branded Hush Puppies, or as Papa likes to call it, “Push Huppies”, a torchlight, a T-Shirt for my uncle and my mum. Mama, instead, went to but 4 sacks of Basmati rice and some chocolates. She always go beserk whenever she steps foot in Mustafa.

Then, we got back to the hotel and got ready to eat dinner with my grand-aunt’s family only this time, they brought us to a restaurant called Johnny’s. After that, we went to my maternal grandmother’s place for a while, before we went to Papa’s former housemate when he was studying in England, Uncle BJ. Uncle BJ works with the Johor Government and also related to Mama.

The Holiday:Day 1

Day 1

During Raya, we went to Johor Bahru as a yearly ritual. We went to Kampung Melayu to visit my grandmother, Ansariah Hj. Husin. We had lunch there and after that, we went to The Puteri Pacific hotel and checked in. We were greeted by warm welcomes from the staff that has served us for the past 11 years. When we got inside, the manager, Rozlee, came to meet us while we were checking in.

Our stuff were brought upstairs in two trolleys - we had too many bags to be brought by one trolley - and once they got to our room, 1141, we unpacked and got ready to go swimming. By that time, my grandparents, uncle and aunt were only at the north side of Johor. So we had some fun time in the pool.

When we went up, it was dark and after getting ready, we went to my grandaunt’s house at Stulang Laut. I usually gang-up with my aunt-cousin, Nurlina, but this time, I only half ganged with her. I spent a few times outside and also played my cousins’ PSP.

Then only I went up to hang out with my aunt-cousin. I took a look at her sea-monkeys (although I didn’t know what they are), we played with her computer and listened to music from her iPod.

We had dinner which my aunt-cousin in-law cooked. It was Briyani Rice, some rendang and ayam masak merah. We had a nice time eating it. It was delicious.

Then we headed back to the Hotel after 3 being full.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF!

Dr. Sheikh Muzaphar in the rocket, preparing himself.

Yesterday, I watched the rocket blast off into space. I think the rocket model is a Soyuz TMA-11. It blasted from Kazakhstan, Russia. The blasted off precisely at 9:21 pm, Malaysian time. He went with Yuri Malenchenko, a Russian engineer and Peggy Whitson, an American mission commander, who is also the pilot.

Papa said that the pilot had been in training for this particular event since 1997. It will take them, about 2 days to reach the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is orbiting the Earth at a height of 360km from the surface of the ocean.

That is very, very high up to be spending Hari Raya Aidil Fitri!

I think, that the reason he went to space is to do some experiments. His and also some other people’s. One of the experiments he’ll be doing is my uncle’s. My mother’s brother is genetics professor in UiTM and Dr. Sheikh is expected to do some experiments for my uncle.

Papa said, he is a 35-year-old orthopedic surgeon and was his school-mate in MRSM. He also has the Malaysian flag on his left sleeve of his spacesuit. There was also a Jalur Gemilang painted outside the Soyuz spacecraft. We are very lucky to have him go into outer space just for some experiments for Malaysian scientists.

Papa also told me Dato’ Marina Mahathir wrote about her father watching the historical event for Malaysia from the hospital where he is admitted.

Papa said Dr. Sheikh also blogged about his preparation for this journey. I hope to meet him someday, as a fellow blogger. He will be inspiring to people like me. I hope I am will also be given an opportunity to go space one day and do experiments for science. We pray that he will have a safe trip to and back from space.