Watching The New Dawn

It has been weeks since I posted the last blog. I hereby apologise to beloved family and friends who had been worried about me. No worries, Shaun had been tough enough to face any situation, let alone Perth, which is the place for retirees.

I don’t have connection at my new house yet, I will be much more active when the line is up. For the time being, I will see what I can do to upload the pictures that I had snapped. Those pictures include some special dinner occasions, day and night out in the city as well as some beautiful places that I had visited. Stay tune.

The reason for me to post this blog is actually to express some opinions of the ‘Political Tsunami’. All the while to my friends and peers, I told them that I’m a patriotic person. But, I think I’m very clear of what the true meaning of being a patriot. I love my family, my friends, and the land that I born and raised on. I feel that a lot of Malaysians are confused on what is the love for your motherland and what is the love for government. What I can say is, though out my observation and experience, Malaysians tend to treat their love for the government as their love for the country. This is something wrong in my own opinion.

I felt a need to emphasise these: I love my country, I want my country to stand in the eyes of the world, I want my identity as a Malaysian to be well respectable when I’m in international environment. Also, I’m not really supporting any side; I just want something good for my country. As in some case, if my country is being drag down by some incapable leader, I will support revolution and reformation.

As for the general election last week, I’m quite relieved. I would like to congrats my fellow country mates. After 50 years, at last Malaysians are no longer sleeping. We are awake, we are enlightened, we are able to differentiate what is good and what is bad. The best thing is, WE ARE HEARD. We no longer have to hide in shadows; no longer have to talk behind everyone. We have our choice to make, and that voice WILL BE HEARD.

HAIL TO BLOODLESS REVOLUTION. HAIL TO NEW DAWN OF MALAYSIA!

CHEERS TO ALL MALAYSIAN!

Last but not least, I would like to thank my family who updated me with the latest news all the while.

Day 16 (1st March 2008)

It was a beautiful Saturday, good for outing and hanging out. The weather in the morning was cloudy and the temperature was comfortable. As planned, Jamie and I went to Carousel with a couple of her friends.



The Carousel car park was always filled with nice cars and today I snapped a Chrysler PT Cruiser and a Renault Megane Coupe. I always like Chrysler cars; their design is unique and macho looking.





After the breakfast and chit-chat session in Fast Eddy’s Restaurant, we decided to split up into 2 parties. Jamie’s friends, Amanda and the others went to shop for groceries while Jamie and I walk around together.
 
We had our lunch at a restaurant inside Carousel. The dish in the picture was actually a kid’s meal despite that it was a great portion.



We continued to shop after the lunch. I got myself bed sheet and linen set for my new home. I have yet to find a few items on my list for day-to-day necessities and room decorations. I will update the picture of my new home once I had finished the job.

My new housemate cooked the dinner as a welcome party for Henny and me. Sadly I forgot to take the picture of the dishes and my new housemate, Kinki, Wan Loong and Kym. All of them were transferred from Metropolitan and we had no problem recognising each other. The dinner was superb partly because I never had a home-cooked Chinese dishes after I arrived in Perth. The dishes were Kung-Po chickens, eggs and baked beans, vegetables, roast pork slices and chickens with potatoes. Double thumps up for Kym for such a great dinner. I will update the picture of my new housemates together with the house in the future.

Note: Pictures had been deleted from blogs upon request.

Day 15 (29th February 2008)

My Friday class ends at 1100. That makes me easier to plan for activities for late Friday. Alvin, Sheng Yang, Winnie and Henny planned to go to the Harcourts real estate agency to resolve their contract for the Cannington house. Henny is going to stay with me while Winnie will take over his room and his name on the contract. I took the chance to go with them to get an understanding on how they deal with rental contract in Perth. The agency situated in an area called Mayland and it took us some effort to reach there.

We took the bus to Victoria Park train station in order to take the train to Mayland. The Australian train is like Malaysian LRT but it is more comfortable and organised. The train was quite packed as it was Friday.







In Perth, students get a Smart Rider card for riding a public transport. It is a lot cheaper compare to normal fare. For example, the train ride to Mayland will charge around $4 normally, but with Smart Rider card, it only costs 90 cents. Another feature of the card is it incorporates the holder’s data and only eligible for the card holder’s use. For instance, if I lost the card, I have to report to the company to issue a revised card as one person can only hold one card.



Mayland is not as developed and well-organised compare to Bentley and Cannington. The streets are surrounded by old-fashion buildings.











The reason I took this picture is because the roof design made me felt creepy. It was a gargoyle if you are able to see it.



The temperature at daytime was hot and we suffered pretty much as we walked to the agency. The guy in grey is Henny. The lady with red bag walking beside him is Winnie. They were followed by Alvin, Sheng Yang and Sheng Yang’s girlfriend Ying Ying.







The agency is hiding in between residences. There was something that interested me. It was the blackboard that the agency used to view their agents’ schedule.



At the agency’s car park, I snapped this 318Ci. It has neat looking modded projector headlights and big chrome wheels.





We took train to go back to Victoria Park after they settled their contract matters. From the Mayland station, I can traced the skycrappers of the city. If you look at the background of the pictures which featured Winnie, you could notice that the Australians like to read while waiting for the train.







We went back to Cannington house. As we began to move into new home, I had to help Henny to move his belongings from Cannington house, where he spent his last semester.



The view from the hill at Farnham Street always beautiful at dusk.



Henny and I took dinner at a Malaysian restaurant in Karawara area, which is also where Waterford Village situated. He had a beef noodle while I ate Mamak-style fried rice.

Day 14 (28th February 2008)

Henny, my future housemate and a good friend of mine, arrived early in the morning by SIA flights. We walked out to have breakfast and prepared ourselves to campus.

Being workaholic again, I started to snap the cable display system at Administration Centre while Henny settle his business. I begin to think that although my family had earned our livings being the monopoly in the Malaysian market, but the Australian market is huge and the product is everywhere.



People who are close with me know that I’d rather wear a cap rather than a pair of sunglasses. I did a difficult decision today to buy a pair of sunglasses. The reason is because the weather is too hot compared to Malaysia and the sunlight was too strong for my eyes.



There is always some interesting corners in the campus. A farmer sold his seedless grapes in campus today. You will never get the price of grapes as low as in Perth. It was $3 or RM9 per kg. I remembered back in Malaysia the same grapes were sold beyond RM10+.



I attended my Economic Theory class today. Meet Dr. Ruhul Salim, the name that I’m familiar with since Year 1 in Metropolitan College. He used to be the unit controller of my several beginner and advanced economics subjects.





Luck approached me at the late evening. When the economic class was having a break, I walk out of the classroom to relax myself. During my way to toilet, I accidentally heard 2 guys discussing their house matters. One of them mentioned Henny and the availability of 2 rooms in their house. I suddenly recalled Henny phoned his friends in the afternoon to look for rooms to let. I approached and clear my doubt and we confirmed that the 2 guys were supposed to meet us for the rooms. We met Henny outside of library after the class and view the house straight-away. We did an important decision; to rent the 2 available rooms.

This marked the beginning of new life in new house, with new housemate.

Day 13 (27th February 2008)

We went down to Cannington in the early afternoon to shop for necessities. As always, we went there by bus. I had always wanted to show how big and attractive does an Australian Holden car showroom compared to a Malaysian Proton showroom. The Holden showroom is huge in size, with every variant of their vehicle parked for viewing. The way they arrange their vehicle according to colours make the whole setup appealing to customers.



When we arrive at Carousel, we spotted a joke. Yes, it’s a joke. Imagine, if an Holden Commodore which is the size of Camry with big block engines and excellent buildmanship; and the most familiar Proton Gen-2, both sell at 30k+ brand new, which one you will purchase? Yet, we managed to spot one!



We have our late breakfast at Carousel food court. Daniel had a steak burger with chips; William ordered fried rice with Chinese Dim Sum and I got myself a Subway foot-long sandwich.









We visited my friends in Cannington after breakfast. On the way to the house, I snapped a new BMW Coupe, a Saab Convertible and a Dodge SUV.







We caught my friends having breakfast when we arrived. The Chinese loves soups and I never had soup since I arrived in Perth. Winnie, who is replacing Henny to stay in the Cannington house, cooked the infamous ‘ABC’ soup. Without a single doubt I filled my stomach with that soup. It was satisfying.





Daniel and William went back in the afternoon. I decided to walk around the Cannington area for houses. It was tiring walking under the sun for few hours from street to street until I visited almost all the real estate agency in Cannington. I never walked that much in K.L., this is going to be a milestone for my body strength.

As usual, I snapped the cars around. This time, I took a close up shot at the wheels of the covered Imprezza beside the Cannington house. It was an excellent modification. An unidentified Mitsubishi and an RX-8-lookalike Mazda CX-7 SUV were spotted. Lastly, the silver car was one of my favourite sedans, Chrysler 300C.









Daniel and William went to the city at the evening. I had a Nasi Briyani and Coke for my dinner.

Day 12 (26th February 2008)

The weather had turned to be extremely hot today. It was said that the low temperature for past few days was caused by cyclone at the north. The afternoon was felt like in an oven; you can even felt like the water was evaporating from your skin.



I met another friend from Metropolitan today. It seems like I’m gradually establish a larger network in Perth. The name of the friend is Alex, who is a Singaporean. We used to club together in K.L. We talked and smoked while sitting on the lawn below shades at Henderson Court for several hours. It was a good chat as we moved the topic from first time experience in Perth, his national service in Singaporean Air Force until our future perspectives.

Beside the Henderson Court parked a few cars. One of them being a eye-shocking Commodore SS. Striking colour, big block V8 below the hood, fierce looking body kits and top up with chromy deep-lip wheels. On the contrast, there’s a pity-looking classic BMW at the car park. The Beemer looks worthy in the eyes of collectors but the owner had terrible mistreated it.





There was also another bizarre spot in the campus. All the campus buildings are already equipped with washrooms on every floor. Why would the authority wanted to erect few ‘instant toilets’ on the lawn?