Crikey Escape Down Under - Part 5 (Souvenir)

I have to admit that both Mr. X and I have committed major folly in buying of souvenirs in Melbourne. On the first day itself, right after brief stop for lunch at Flinder’s Street, we passed by a so-called Wholesale Souvenir shop next to Subway. The intention was to “look” only. Looked at them we did. The souvenir items were so colorful and varied that it seemed all were worth the purchase. Shirts were at AUD8.90 per piece for round neck, key chains koalas the cheapo ones were at AUD5 for 20, fridge magnet at AUD2.50 and many others priced at such affordable price, or so we thought. Because of the excitement and the worry that we might not have ample time to buy more souvenirs, I have contributed almost AUD30 to the Indonesian born lady owner.

Next idiocy was to pop round a souvenir store while waiting for the tour bus on the 3rd day. Again, it was only to “look”. That “look” costs another AUD100. This store sold embroided shirts, nice ones. 4 for AUD50. Thinking that I had not been away for quite some time from home, I owed my siblings and in-laws some stuff, the ones with quality. I wouldn’t dare buying them cheapo koala key chains, would I? While I was busy selecting the right shirts, Mr. X was ecstatic enough to choose koalas key chains (the one with better quality) for his office mates and friends. He got them 4 for AUD 10. He was so happy that nite.

As if couldn’t bear the gratification further, I collected a few gifts here and there while I was on tour. Some at the Koala Conservation Center and some at the Penguin Parade store. The one at the Nobbies was incredibly expensive. Mr.X only bought a fridge magnet there for our house.

We only realized it was such a folly until the last day, when we decided that by hook or by crook, we had to go to Victoria Market. Damn all those stores! The shirts were priced at AUD5 (made in China), cheapo koala key chains you can get them at AUD2.50 for 20, fridge magnets and small key chains were at 8 for AUD10. The same koala key chains with better quality which Mr. X bought while waiting for the tour bus was at 8 for AUD10. 50% cheaper!!! Extraordinarily bargain basement priced! He couldn’t help himself but to curse at all the previous shop owners. But then again, not all things can be found there. My embroided shorts were no where to be found there.

Oklah kan…dah beli dah…lesson learnt. Victoria Market is HEAVEN for shopping in Melbourne. Majority of the sellers are Asians who have migrated there and the workers can be foreign students as well. Some sellers can even speak Malay. So, it’s such a great place to shop but be prepared to dig into your pocket further. Every thing seems nice and a must have. I almost bought a kangaroo and a koala medium size huggable, until I managed to curb my insanity to finish off all the AUD left (dah tinggal sikit pon…). Cash only here, no credit card. Nasib baik.

Before flying home, the airport is also a devil’s place for shoppers. There is a store called Purely Australian, in which all the items sold are made in Australia. Since many things are made in China, this store creates that edge for those shoppers who’d be willing to pay slightly higher price to get their dream things. I got a purse made of Kangaroo skin. This one is not sold in Victoria Market. Among other things, :P.

In short, Melbourne is a shopping heaven. Considering that I had skipped visiting factory outlets, the amount spent there can be considered incredibly high to my standard. There goes all my AJIT program. Ampun Pak Aziz!

Crikey Escape Down Under (Part 6 - Food)

The last exciting part of the Aussie trip would be on the subject of culinary or better known as - F.O.O.D. Even though people told me that there are many halal eating places in Melbourne and that I was not to worry, unfortunately I did not come across any one near the place where we stayed. Chinatown was close and there was a Malaysian restaurant - Old Town Cafe, but it did not really attract our appetite. The rest nearby were chains of Subways, Thai restaurants, Italian, Korean, etc.

The hotel apartment was nice - good view of the city, near to the train station, and the best part was there is a convenient store right next to it. It was an advantage that Mr. X had us stayed at an apartment type hotel since we could cook whatever we liked. The tale on culinary consumption went like this:

1. 1st day - lunch - vege sandwich from Subway, dinner - Curry maggie mee.
2. 2nd day - bfast - bread and eggs (pre-packed food babe, to save cost), lunch - fish n chips, dinner - seafood sandwich from Subway and supper - that's it man, I want RICE!! Couldn't take it anymore. Right after that Great Ocean Road trip, Mr. X and I explored the store downstairs for rice and stuff that suit our throats. I cooked Sardines (bloody fish from Scotland, was at AUD3.50 per can!), my style of omelette and vege soup. I could see the 2 gentlemen's expression of satisfaction before and after dinner that nite. Hah....a taste of home, far from home....how fulfilling!
3. 3rd day - bfast - bread and Nutella (pre-packed also), lunch - fish n chips, dinner - vege and cheese pizzas.
4. 4th day - bfast - pizzas from last nite, lunch - nice one, at an Italian cafe - seafood rice and mushroom soup. Australian dish is HUGE, I think for us Asians, 2-3 people kind of serving. Dinner - at Jade Kingdom (a very famous Malaysian restaurant serving good nasi lemak and rendang). Owned by a Malaysian Chinese who had been operating it for 30 years. We had the nasi lemak and egg. It tasted like the nasi lemak from Season cafe, Chinese style of sambal. Nevertheless, there's no complaint there since we were dying to get Malaysian food.

When we go traveling, a taste of home tend to follow us. This throat and tummy as if were trained to only accept foreign food up to certain level. Beyond the limit, everything seems to taste in homogeneity. Then come the craving for telur dadar, nasi putih, sayur goreng, sup sayur, except for sambal belacan since it's quite troublesome to find belacan (had to go to Asian grocery store). If you bring in food to Australia, you have to declare. It has to be dry like maggie mee, it's OK as long as you declare it in your Arrival Form. None of us had known this fact, and for this, Mr.X's friend was almost detained and fined up to AUD250 for not declaring the maggie mee, 3 in 1 milo, etc. Being first timer, the immigration gave him an escape. We on the other hand did not bring any food since there's the tale of "Oh, halal food is everywhere" and the fright that Australian government is dead strict on bringing in foreign food.

So there are a few tips for you there and for us for the next visit (cheh, macam nak pegi lagi lah pulakkan..)..

Husna's 2nd Trophy

Sometime early April 2009, Husna’s teacher called me up and informed me that Husna had been selected to represent her school for a spelling bee contest for all Nuri centers in JB. The event was to be held on 23 May 2009, at Sutera Mall, Skudai, JB.

Since the news was out, she had been practicing the 30 words given by the teacher and the way to do it – word, each letter, word. I saw the list and sometimes I tried to test her on different words. For example, the word “triangle” was on the list, so I asked her to spell “square” instead. Normally she answered “That’s not in my list”. I said “Just in case, in the finals when everyone’s equal, they’ll ask you words beyond the list. You have to try, OK”.

She was lucky since she had many trainers at home. Besides the dear mom and dad, she had her aunts – Cik Wah, Cik Odah, plus 2 cousins at home. For that 1.5 months, I guessed she must have had ample practice.

The day came. It was a Saturday, Nuri Education Center aimed to promote their centers to the public. For 4 year olds, there was a demonstration on reading skills, for 5 year olds, the spelling bee contest and for 6 year olds, the composition contest. The crowd was not too bad on that Saturday at the mall.

Husna and the 10 other contenders started their Round 1 very well indeed. Everyone got it right. Then came 2nd round, a few glitches here and there. Sorry, it was a contest with no second chance – “kalah mati” lah. Round 2 kicked out 3 kids. Round 3 another few kids, until final round – only 3 kids left. Husna from Sri Putri, a girl from Impian Emas and a boy from Bukit Indah.

Here are the words Husna had to spell:
Round 1 – EIGHT
Round 2 – CHERRY
Round 3 – TRIANGLE
Round 4 – final round, 3 words each to each participant:
TABLE
TIGER
SNAIL

She got all the words correctly spelt. Something funny happened at the final round. The boy could not figure the word very well. The tune went on like this:

Judge : Spell for me JUNIOR.
Boy : D.U.R.I.A.N.
Judge : Here me properly – JUNIOR.
Boy : D.U. – du…..long silence.

The crowd who were at first had their giggles and chuckles at the boy, soon turned into long silence of wonder.

He must have practiced only the 30 words given by the teacher. Since the word DURIAN was on the list while the word JUNIOR was not, he just could not think out of the box. See, what mommy told you are correct. You must get ready for whatever circumstances in life. Expect the unexpected. Mommy always right - hahaha..

The boy had all the 3 words wide off the mark – JUNIOR (spelt DURIAN), JUMP (spelt JAM) and one other word, he was silent until the bell was rung. The girl was the closest contender. She got 2 words right – CHAIR and FACE, while 1 word she could not figure how to spell at all – ERASER (again, it was not on the list).

Before the contest, I told Husna “It’s OK if you don’t win, but it’ll be better if you win. Just try your best”. I was trying not to get her to feel under pressure, because I was the one who felt pressured. She replied “I know all the 30 words, I can win”.

When her name was called to spell out each word in every round, I was the one who got jittery and felt the nerves all around the body. It was worst than the feeling before presenting my speech at the Toastmasters Club even! She was instead, as cool as you could never have expected. Every time she spelt the words correctly, I was the one who clapped the loudest and shouted like mad woman – “Huhu…Good Girl…”. At one point, another mom looked at me and gave me that look, to which I said “Sorry, can’t help it”.

Lesson no. 1 - nothing beats good practice. Only practice makes perfect.

Lessons no. 2 - mommy really needs to learn to control her emotions better.

Congratulations Husna, another trophy for you!

Sweet and Neat

I've just found out that this new PC in office has a Picasa. Yihaaa...the previous user had installed it, and before IT guys come for audit next week, at least I got something here as a trial.

I have become Tupperware dealer for personal consumption plus agents for a few frequent buyers. So all of you who wish to make your home neater, or is trying to make your lovey dovey wife to love you more, can contact me.

There's Good & There's Bad

There are 2 contradictory events happening today.

BAD - my Honda Odyssey's window got smashed last nite. It was parked outside the house since Mr. X went home about midnite from his outstation trip to KL. Nothing had been missing so far. There were coins but the culprit refused to take. At the police station, we met up with another victim. His was an X-Trail and he lives 1 lane away from our house.

The policeman at MRini asked us to bring the report to Nusajaya's station and show it to the sergeant. Mr. X went and found out that there were 3 other cars got smashed last nite. The motive was unclear. Around my area, 4 cars, nothing got stolen.

The guy victim said he did see a group of dark skinned strange people hanging around the playground area in front of his house last nite, but did not suspect anything. He had been parking his X-Trail for years outside the gate, this is the first time that such mishap happened. This is the very few time that the Odyssey be parked outside the gate.

Maybe it's time for some reflection. Maybe we did not pay enough zakat last year?

GOOD NEWS - my letter about Zoo Negara plight got published by the Star newspaper today. Hooray! Since I've decided to cut off my donation to WWF to follow the AJIT program, at least this effort can be a cheer for me to save all the animals at Zoo Negara. Refer to my previous posting to refresh the images of the poorr animals.

TO all of you citizens of Zoo Negara, here is for you, and I pray that Allah helps to save you by bringing in the money meant for you from the state or federal governments. Let's hope Dr. Ng Yen Yen come to visit you soon.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/4/focus/4047168&sec=focus

Save Zoo Negara and the poor animals

I VISITED Zoo Negara on May 3 and was very disappointed with the dismal state of the home of 5,000 over animals.

The animals looked under-fed, dirty and unhappy, surrounded by untrimmed bushes and uncut grass, incomplete renovation and expansion work, filthy walls and drains and other unsightly scenery.

It was widely publicised that this year is Visit Zoo Negara 2009 but unfortunately, not much has been done to uplift its impoverished condition.

The tagline displayed “Towards being a world class zoo” in front of the premises really damages the zoo’s image and the nation’s pride even further.

I do not understand why the Federal and state governments are not supporting the zoo’s enhancement programmes even though it is one of the major attractions for tourists in Kuala Lumpur.

Almost all well-known zoos in major cities of the world are funded or partly funded by the governments.

It is apparent that the gate collection and deteriorating private funds are insufficient to sustain Zoo Negara’s existence, what more to implement all the upgrading projects.

I would like to call upon the newly appointed Tourism Malaysia chairman Datuk Dr Victor Wee Eng Lye and the Tourism Minister to make a surprise visit and see what needs to be done to help the poor animals and to repair the zoo’s image.

FRUSTRATED VISITOR, Johor Baru.

Praying Hard on Air

Newsflash - Air France jet missing over Atlantic with 228 aboard.

Watching the National Geographic's program - Air Crash Investigation - has its own pros and cons. Pros - we can learn a lot on the reasons for the accidents, and mostly it is attributable to human failures. Such a simple loss in sight, or indifference in attitude of the mechanics or pilots could cause major disaster.

Cons - Frankly, a few scenes from the program kept on playing on my mind while the flight attendants showcasing their in-flight safety demonstration and as the airplane was taking off and while on air. Practically, most of the times while I was onboard. You can call it paranoia also.

A slight tremor on air would remind me of what the ill-fated passengers would have done or experienced should the situation become worst. Remember to only inflate the safety jacket while you're outside the airplane if the plane is to crash on water. This is some of the lessons I learnt from the program and the scene would vividly popped up during the safety demo. So what did I do? Pray hard, baby! Doa keluar rumah, doa mintak selamat, doa dijauhi bencana, dan segala doa yg terhafal, baca, jgn tak baca.

The Air France incident would have been the second one after their Supersonic crash while taking off in year 2000. This is the first case involving the new series of Airbus planes. Mind you that majority of Air Asia's planes are ordered from Airbus.

Huhu...pray hard the next time you're on the plane.

Quest for Malaysian Icons

In the news today:

NEW YORK - General Motors Corp (GM) will be replaced by Cisco Systems Inc in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and Citigroup Inc will be replaced by Travelers Companies Inc, Dow Jones Indexes said today."The parlous state of GM has left us with no choice but to remove it from The Dow. A bankruptcy filing immediately disqualifies a stock regardless of a company's history or its role as a cultural icon," said Robert Thomson, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and editor-in-chief for all of Dow Jones in a press release. — Reuters

If a business is considered as an icon to a country, it must have served the country for decades and has been benefiting the nation for a very long time. US's icons are a lot - McDonald's, KFC, Starbuck, Tupperware, Wal-Mart, and not to mention, the 2 defunct companies from automotive and banking industries as above. Japan's icons - Toyota, Honda, Sony, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, etc. Swedish's icon - Ikea. British's icon - Tesco? French's icon - Carrefour? They carry the name of the company and indirectly, carry the country's pride in all corners of the world.

What about us? What is the most deserving Malaysian icon - besides the orang utan and KLCC - I mean in terms of business and the flag they carry in many other countries? Let me see
(it's not easy to list down the possible businesses you see):

1. Secret Recipe?
2. Proton???
3. Malaysia Airlines?
4. Air Asia? (Poor Dato' Tony, he really needs that extra rest after fainted at the LCCT yesterday ).
5. Pensonic??
6. Sime Darby?
7. Petronas?
8. Berjaya Group?

Hmmm...maybe not yet. Perhaps we can only tell after the year 2020 when we aspire to be one of the developed nation. PM Najib should also think of the iconic business firms to represent Malaysia besides chasing the status per se.

Poor GM and Citigroup. Such large organizations full of pride and now shrunk into pieces needing rescued by the American public. What goes up must come down.