CHAPTER 18

14th July 2003, Monday.

Today we were moving out of Darma’s and into YHA Sydney Central. Packed our bags, I literally just stuffed everything in, poor Farah had her bag unpacked by Jahon, that little monster…hahaha. Downstairs there were lovely spaghetti and garlic bread waiting for us, ate lots of it, and I mean lots of it, which could have lasted us the whole day. Darma even gave us some for the road, a big tub of spaghetti, a container of fruit salad and a double pack of our favourite snack, TIM TAM. Johan and family dropped us off at the train station before they went off to the bank. DEEPEST thanks to Darma and family. They were phenomenal hosts. And the best thing was that we saved a lot of money on food staying with them, we were extremely well fed.

Carried our bags up the stairs across to the train platform. Sat around and enjoyed the morning air of suburban Sydney. As usual to entertain ourselves we would sing, crack stories, tell jokes. Came up with this super lame punchline to our jokes. We would sing Mr. Big’s “I’m the one who want’s to be with you, deep inside I hope you feel it too”, after every lame thing we could think off. That was a blast…punchline songs are the best!
Our train arrived and we were lazy to climb up to the 2nd train level so we sat near the door, make life easier for ourselves, hey our bags were huge and heavy. Just had to open a packet of Tim Tam, so we snacked. My discman’s batteries were weak so we listened to Farah’s, cd in playlist: Incubus, Morning Glory. That got me a bit emotional, songs in that album do that to a person. Soon a very cute fat boy came in with his mom and grandmother and sat near us. He was so cute, he had to be about 7. I even offered him some Tim Tam, he politely declined. They got off before us, and soon we got to Central station. Squeezed our way through the door, exited out of the station, we must have exited from a different exit cos’ I dunno where we ended up. We always seem to exit from a different exit at Central station, it’s pretty strange. Anyways it seems the nearest one to YHA, so lucky us. Checked in, got our keys, it’s a cool swipe card each, need that to access our floor showers too, pretty high-tech for a backpackers dorm. Got our extra blankets and headed up, room 415. Very nice room, 2 bunk beds, Farah took the bottom, I took the top. There was a reading lamp beside every bed, I thought that was pretty cool. Saw our roommate’s shoes, boy does she have really small feet. We each had a locker in the room, and only Farah had a lock, so we were putting our bags into her’s and getting ready to walk around. But somehow we lost the lock. I remember she giving it to me and I put it in the open top locker. We stuffed our bags into the lower one and when we were ready to lock, the lock wasn’t there. We searched everywhere for it, still it was nowhere to be found. So we decided to go downstairs and buy locks for ourselves. So down we went, bought the locks, up again, locked the lockers and off we went. Wanted to put our food in the fridge. We looked around the facilities a bit, it had a heated indoor pool, game room, sauna, TV rooms on alternate floors, 2 huge kitchens with about 5 cooking areas each, equipped with stoves, microwaves, sink. 4 large fridges, we had to group our spaghetti and other things into a plastic bag and label it with the given stickers. There was a problem, there was no pen. So we got up took a pen, went back down and miraculously, there was a pen in the kitchen. We’ve already gotten use to the going up and down part of this YHA. The elevator was a good way to see people. The eating area was huge, very nice retro feel and diner like atmosphere. Weirdly, I didn’t take any video of that. Overall it was a fantastic place, for $35 a day. Cheaper if you’re a YHA member, $35 membership. And all that is why YHA Sydney Central is the most popular one in Sydney.

Finally we walked out and headed to Pitt Street mall. Saw so many yummy looking people as usual. Farah bought slippers from Roxy, I bought a wallet. Somehow she got the nice looking plastic bag, I was so jealous. Walked some more and Farah wanted to go to an internet café. So we went to the one at Edward Street (remember the day before, there was cute guy working there, we contemplated on staying at the place above, haha) but sadly he wasn’t working that day oh well, we still surfed. This was the only time I actually went online the whole trip. Anyways I remembered something happened before I could send a long email to people back home, so the email was never sent, it was lost. The only thing that came out of that session for me was a line in my blog, which says, “hi I’m in Sydney, if you wanna know more, check out farah’s blog” haha something like that. Farah stayed on an extra half hr, I sat beside her and helped dictate the day, as you know she updates our adventures “LIVE” via blog. I was a helping force.

We got hungry and remembered our packed food, so we walked back. Somehow Farah needed to pee really badly, anyways we found a post box and posted our postcards which we had written the day before, to family and friends. Farah was walking fast, way in front of me but suddenly she stopped and asked me to hurry. I hurried up and when I got near she asked me to take a picture of her with the huge clock tower behind. So funny. She was willing to hold it for a picture. We could only use the 4th floor toilet cos’ our room was in the 4th floor, it’s a swipe card key thing. So after much relief, we headed down to the kitchen and there were a lot of people, that was fun. Squeezing around seeing all these guys and girls cooking. All we did was took out our spaghetti with sprinkled parmesan onto our plates, and heat it up in the microwave. I remember seeing envious stares from some guys. My gosh, the spaghetti tasted even better with the melted cheese on top of it. We ended up having 2 servings each, which was the whole tub of spaghetti that Darma gave us. Oh well, our food intake has definitely risen in Sydney. Farah had the fruit salad, I ate the Tim tam. After dinner we decided to do our laundry. Went to our room just to find our roommate asleep, how boring, moved around as quietly as we could. Bought detergent from the reception and we’re ready to start. One problem, the washer accepts 2 AU$1 and 1 AU$0.20. We didn’t have AU$0.20 coin, so Farah went off looking for someone to change AU$0.20. We set off on our pursuit together, asking everyone we passed, nobody seemed to have AU$0.20. Kept seeing the same people while we went up and down the elevator. We split up. I asked this one drunk guy, a friend of two other guys whom we met at the 9th floor. No luck. Farah went in search of AU$0.20 in the kitchen. I decided to go buy something and changed lots of AU$1 coins since the dryer needed 2 AU$1. So I had a lot of AU$1 coins in my wallet. Got back up and we were all set. 4th floor Laundromat. Could only use that one cos’ we could only use our key to open 4th floor facility.

Went up to the 9th floor open balcony and sat there waiting for our laundry to be done. Apparently I heard from Farah that she ended up getting the AU$0.20 from the drunk guy’s friend. So yeah, it’s a whole cycle happening at YHA. That 9th floor balcony is my personal, you could see pretty much the city and the air is beautiful, it’s extremely windy, very cold, but very private, it was nice. About 30mins later we went down and it was time to put our clothes in the dryer, I love dryers. There were these 2 girls who had about 20mins left in their dryer and they’ve already emptied their load, so they told us to use the remaining 20mins, very sweet of them. Went back up to the 9th floor, wanted to bring our Tim Tam and drinks up but the kitchen closes at 9pm, that sucks big time. So we just sat up there and filled time without our snacks. We knew the laundry room closes at 10pm so we headed back down and unfortunately, it’s locked, some automatic lock to the door, so our clothes were stranded in the room. Went back up to the 9th floor laughing quite helplessly. Chilled up there till late and headed back to our room to sleep.




Posted 5:39 PM by ">Norhidayati

i think i am prepared to probably say goodbye to this blog. its all too public for my liking.
maybe. it's just a private state of mind i'm more into.

will finish that travel journal. when? don't hold ur breath on that one.



Posted 1:55 PM by ">Norhidayati

SELAMAT HARI RAYA EIDUL ADHA =)

its been a long time. some things i'd write in this blog, most things i don't.

the grief felt within held deep and unseen.
the worry of possibilities i can't escape.
all but to do is just let it rest and see how it takes me from point A to Z.

again i thank all.

family seems to be a huge key in sense and appreciation of everything.
laid to rest, my peace of mind.



Posted 4:09 PM by ">Norhidayati

mardi just put to my attention that our well loved kara's flowers are now the very well-knowned maroon 5, that's incredible! knew they were changing their name to maroon, had no idea there was a 5, its been about 2 or 3 years since i last heard about them...so awesome they're making it big! in a small way, im pretty sad, they're no longer the fantastic small unknown band haha..oh well. adam lost a scary amt of weight...makes him look all chiselled, those skinny drug addicts type of built, but oddly he looks great! actually i think age has made them look a lot better, either that or the work of an image consultant. and one more thing, mardi and i are pretty proud that we can spot bands with potentials...haha. new cd to get!



Posted 5:11 AM by ">Norhidayati

realised its been so long since ive written anything...my comp has died indefinitely. gotta get a new one when i have money.
anyways HAPPY NEW YEAR, to me and all.
well, my day today as i remember,
met mardi to watch mona lisa smile, azi joined. celebrated at bk her good news about a job. azi went off to a friend's party. i bought this calendar diary at borders, it was on 50% discount, so that was good. the DALI edition, weird stuff, but good weird.
mardi bought this cat wall calendar which had a cat for every single day. so there was a lot of cats. all 365 of them...cute stuff. left for work and reached the front door of MOVING VISUALS at 10pm, farah called so that was fun, she accompanied me as i pressed the doorbell, waiting for the door to be opened.
its 10.54pm now...waiting for my dierctor, ive been on the net, checking mails, going on friendster, actually got a msg from a girl saying that she finds me interesting, well thank you =)
how much longer shall i wait, i don't care...im getting paid anyways...



Posted 10:56 PM by ">Norhidayati

my congrats to ENIGMATIC for winning the Asian Beat Band Competition, they did a great performance!



Posted 5:22 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 17

13th July 2003, Sunday.

This day we had decided to wander off on our own. Had breakfast and told Darma of our move to YHA tomorrow. Walked to the station, it was a very bright morning. Walked pass all these low houses with swings and flowers on their yards, there was even a house with a few artworks made of gardening tools. We bought a two way trip ticket. Super fast train, one of those express that skipped so many stops. Got to Central station and looked for YHA, on the map it says that its exactly beside the station, but it’s a huge station, of all the times we’ve alighted there, we never seem to exit from the same exit. So off course we were lost. Walked and walked, saw a couple of other backpacker lodgings and decided to check a few out. Stopped by this internet café below one of the backpacker place on Edward Street to ask the guy where YHA is. Damn he was cute. We contemplated on staying there. Anyways, found YHA, booked our rooms and went off to eat lunch. We had Indian food, Roti Nan, the sauces were good, mine was so spicy, it was super red. With a filled stomach we walked to Darling Harbour.

Wanted to see the two famous landmarks of Sydney so we walked down. One tip to future travelers, don’t EVER walk from Darling Harbour to Sydney Harbour, it’s the longest route you could ever take, unless you don’t mind an adventure. We sat down somewhere at some busstop to rest. Discovered we had chilli in between our teeth, flossed using a strand of our hair. It didn’t seem disgusting then, just funny, c’mon who could say that they were in Sydney, sitting at a busstop near the river, flossing their teeth using their hair? We could, haha, can’t believe we did that. Anyways, we continued walking and we felt like we’ve walked forever, we were only half way there. We passed these two Caucasian old ladies who were talking and walking very slowly just like us. A vision of our future. From then on we couldn’t stop laughing, up till now I could still remember the old ladies. Then come the true test of our endurance. We found out we had to climb up this EXTREMELY HIGH STAIRS. I’m not kidding. EXTREMELY HIGH STAIRS. Thank goodness when we got to the top, there was a bench waiting for us. Time was 2pm. From way up there we could see the whole Darling Harbour, it was a beautiful sight.

We had no idea where we were, all we knew was we had to walk towards one direction. I really enjoyed that route, we walked along the river, passed very Victorian looking streets, met a few locals living there, said hi and bye, Italian music playing in the background, leaves were yellow, the houses looked like those houses on Boston Streets you always see on television, quaint balconies, beautifully designed metal gates, sloped roads, very European-like, it was all so magical. As we walked and walked through the beautiful streets, we finally saw the Harbour Bridge, magnificently huge. Pretty wow, considering how old it is and that it’s still significant to this day. We saw one of those markets ahead of us, situated nicely below the enormous bridge, musicians playing on the streets, families just lazing around on the grass areas. Found out that it’s The Rocks Market, and the streets that we walked through was the town called The Rocks. Beautiful place, if I could live anywhere in Sydney, this would be it. Had read about the market, it’s only on during Sundays, had no idea where The Rocks were so we didn’t know if we were even going there but hey there we were, without even knowing it. It all just happened so weirdly. We walked through the market, really nice things, expensive things, didn’t buy anything, we just looked. Stopped by some of the cafes around and decided to eat ice cream as we watch this blues band perform. They were good. Looked at the time, it was only 2.30pm. That’s how you can utilize time there, imagine doing all the things we did just in half an hour. Time moves so slowly, its brilliant.

After our ice-cream, we sat at the Sydney Harbour nearer to the bridge side, we could see the opera house on the opposite end. We’ll go there tomorrow. Took tons of pictures. Just sat there enjoying the sun and the wind, wonderful place to chill. Saw the climbers on the Harbour Bridge, I believe it cost AU$100++. We’re pampered backpackers, we come here to see not pay. That became our motto! Laughed so much there, just talking about everything. Sat there for about an hour though it felt longer. Farah decided to go make a phonecall to her mom, I sat by this fountain and a guy came over to ask me on a survery about The Rocks. I gave all my honest opinion, beautiful place but it can improve itself a little. It’s too tailored to the rich. Hilton was just there, practically on the river, 4 storeys high, just beside the Harbour bridge. Restaurants, no by-the-street food stalls or drinks vending machines. Few accessible toilets around. Other than that it was perfect.
Farah came back and we went to a nearby souvenir shop. Farah bought this cool, dark blue Australian T-shirt. We bought ill a postcard and walked around the harbour. The sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful shade of pink, couldn’t help ourselves, took more pictures. Sat at a Starbucks and drank Chocolate Frappucino. It was already dark and it was freezing. We sat outside, don’t ask us why, Farah had a hard time drinking because it was so cold. She had pulled her sweater sleeves to cover all her fingers, with a clenched fist tried picking up the cup. It was so funny. Lucky for me my trench coat was pretty thick, Farah only had her Hoodie for the whole trip. It was incredible she didn’t get hypothermia. We couldn’t take it anymore, fingers and cheeks were quite numb and most shops were closed except for this souvenir shop so in we went. Warmth has never felt so comforting. We were there just to warm ourselves actually but the shop was big, we ended up buying a few souvenirs. Decided to head back about 9pm. Waited for our train for about 30minutes, we entertained ourselves and weird things started to happen. There were these 2 people who were kind of rolling on the floor in front of us, laughing but never once did they got up, just rolling and I mean literally. Across on the other platform opposite us (there were about 5 or more platforms) were these two guys in shorts and t-shirts with arms crossed, leaning on the pillar, not moving at all. There were trying to look all-cool but I bet they were freezing. Our train came and there was this Lebanese family sitting about 4 seats in front. This small boy seemed to have found a fascination with us. At most he was 2. He kept laughing and smiling and we did our to-amuse-child stupid faces. He could barely walk but he made his way down to us and his family just let him be. The grandpa, grandma, uncles, mother, father, just smiling and laughing away. So yeah, he sat with us for about 10 minutes. Can’t believe they allowed strangers like us to entertain him, we must have looked very trustworthy, oh well, it was just our charm. The little boy walked back with the help of the aunt and they all left the train. Our stop then came and we got off.

The minute we stepped off the train, everything around us was foggy. The street light was misty and the air was so cold, my nose felt like it would break off. We had mist coming out of our mouths, without even trying and we couldn’t see the road properly. Our cheeks were so red, our teeth were chattering, our bodies shivering, we couldn’t even talk to each other. We just walked. I had wanted to pee from the time we boarded the train, walking through all this didn’t make it any easier, and the worst thing is, we took a wrong detour and had to walk the long way. I swear it was the worst feeling ever. Finally when we reached Darma’s house, waiting for her to open the door was torturous. As the door opened without saying hi or anything I just ran to the toilet. Never ever ever do I want to go through that ever again, I wouldn’t even wish it for my worst enemy. But looking back it was brilliant, one of those things that I was glad happened. Understood how blistering cold felt like, your joints just ache uncontrollably. We warmed ourselves up, in Jahon’s room, thank god for the invention of heaters. As we slowly got ourselves out of the shock, we got into writing our postcards to ill and our family. We got down and Darma prepared some apple pie for us.
It was one hell of a day out on our own in Sydney.



Posted 7:25 PM by ">Norhidayati

good news guys...my phone is up and running! woohoo!



Posted 2:03 PM by ">Norhidayati

was reading ill's blog...realised i havnt done a test in a long time...so i did...its fun

EMODE: WHY AM I STILL SINGLE

Don't Want To Compromise

You live alone and like it, thanksverymuch. Well, at least some of the time. You prefer coming and going as you please, and you don't like to be controlled or held responsible for someone else's schedule or needs. After all, you probably have plenty of friends, a satisfying career (or other projects to occupy your time), and you may simply not have room for another person right now — unless of course they can bend to meet your routine exactly. Does this sound familiar?

While we admire your go-it-alone attitude — and your carefree, open-minded spirit — you may be shutting out others from your life without realizing it. You never know, maybe if you met the right person you could learn to grow together — while holding onto your hard-earned independence.


i admit...guilty.



Posted 4:02 AM by ">Norhidayati

view the rental properties

i spent the longest time looking through all these rental properties...i'm so in love...



Posted 9:49 PM by ">Norhidayati

brisbane suburbs map

which house sounds nice to you?

FULLY FURNISHED TOWN HOUSE
Details: Rent : $100.00 per week
Number of Rooms : 3
Suburb : MT. GR AVATT EAST
Available : 14th of November 2003
Rent Includes: Fully furnished
Bond: 4 weeks rent
Transport to QUT: 180 bus ,approx 15 mins
Details of Furnishings: fully furnished inclusing A/C and washing machine
Preferred Person: everyone
Pets OK?: no
Queer Friendly?: Yes
Description: 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, lockup garage by remote, A/C, WashingManchine, Dishwasher suitable for sharing $97 per person/week or whole house 290 per week
pictures of the town house
i really like this place...its further inland from southbank....zone2

3 bedroom Townhouse
Details: Rent : $85.00 per week
Number of Rooms : 3
Suburb : 8 miles plains
Available : 4th of October 2003
Rent Includes: power and water
Bond: 2 weeks
Transport to QUT: BUS, Train.
Details of Furnishings: Fully Furnished
Preferred Person: female
Pets OK?: no
Description: Air Conditioned townhouse, close to shopping center, bus stop, very easy to the city. power included in the rent, short-term or long-term all OK. interested? mail me at nicebrisbane@yahoo.com.au for the pics of the townhouse..

i was just browsing through...




Posted 9:37 PM by ">Norhidayati

been neglecting this again...i want a new PC...

anyways thought i'd write this phrase that might come in handy to you girls...
said it to shiks while at Parkway Parade's busstop...just to piss her off, it's all about the love...anyways she said it sounded good...

"i may be a bitch (or whatever), but at least i'm not ordinary"

pretty strong phrase and ouch! it's gotta hurt...



Posted 6:14 PM by ">Norhidayati

i have to get back to writing my trip...i havnt forgotten it...just a little tired and lazy...haha whats new.

came up with this theory yesterday on why single guys don't approach us and taken guys check us out:
the single ones wonder: she has to be somebody's baby!
the taken ones wonder: damn why am i not with her!

another revolutionary discovery...

i realise that professional soccer players regardless of how good looking the are, arent very well educated. they turn professionals at a very young age and their careers are very short lived, and then what are they gonna do? i discovered another group of people that fits the same mould. Models. they start their professional career young, not much on education (such a pity), short lived, and then what are they gonna do?
so the way i see it they both kinda deserve and need each other. so many model/footballer couples. i always wondered (during my soccer player frenzy) why arent i with these soccer players, but now, im glad i'm not a model.

shiks made it to my attention that made me want to write a book on theories: Hida's book of theories hahaha i have much thats waiting to be compiled



Posted 1:07 PM by ">Norhidayati

i cant make outgoing calls or sms cos i havent paid my bill...oh well...just thought id let you know.



Posted 12:47 PM by ">Norhidayati

saw farah's latest skin...nice...very pink ya'll! haha.
had a fabulous time with farah yesterday, sitting by Taka's stairs talking about yup, TOYS...haha we would like some or at least i do.
good to know you feel comfortable to let it out now farah, the feeling's mutual, love!

shiks, hope i had cheered you up yesterday.

that song by stacie orrico, is my favourite right now, thanks lots to mardi for including it in the cd compilation she did for me, she knew i loved that song. pleasant surprise indeed.

i love girl talks. i definitely do. it's a need. definitely more to come. right girls?

anyways i've had requests for pictures to be put up.
they do bring back memories. sweet sweet memories. with a smile always.


YHA. oh my, we did a magic trick for this picture.
we just appeared out of nowhere, yup we were that good.


YHA. card games galore. SNAP, murderer, UNO, Taiti...
you name it we played it. you can read about it in chapter 8.


on my birthday at Michael's house.
Finn, man in life while over there.
i really like this picture.



on my birthday, 5th july. at Michael's place.
we had this room with a SINGLE bed and we all
squeezed in it. surprising we all fitted very nicely.
too comfortable that we hid in there so very often,
even though there was a party outside.



Posted 8:11 PM by ">Norhidayati

the house that we stayed in for free for 2weeks,
a week before Sydney and a week after.
thanks ill, plus the landlord, David was just fantastic.



Posted 12:08 PM by ">Norhidayati

rare picture of Farah at Eagle Street Pier. another tired soul.
the place was wonderful but we just wanted a bed.



Posted 12:06 PM by ">Norhidayati

ill enjoying a snowcone. it was the most tiring day of our lives.
ill just came at 7am, we just woke up from a 1hr sleep,
it felt like one whole long day that continued from the previous.
we dragged ourselves out. walked like crazy.
see the tiredness in ill's eyes.



Posted 12:01 PM by ">Norhidayati

Farah and an older kangaroo.
ill made this remark that,
"the older they get, the wetter they are!"
i agree, their saliva was all over our hands.



Posted 11:59 AM by ">Norhidayati

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. me feeding a kangaroo
i called Bobby just cos' i thought he looked like a 'Bobby'.



Posted 11:55 AM by ">Norhidayati

Azi and me while walking around QUT. qut posers, what's new.

i finally took some stills of my holiday. there's so much, i'm tired of looking through. but here's some fun pictures i'd put up.




Posted 11:52 AM by ">Norhidayati

dreamt of benz yesterday. its amazing how someone i hardly knew could leave such a lasting impression. maybe someday our paths would cross again, that would be phenomenal. something to hope for.



Posted 1:53 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 16

12th July 2003, Saturday.

Woke up in the morning and ate whatever donuts were left. Had pancakes for breakfast, I think we both ate close to 10 or more haha it was too good. We drove to the Sydney Olympic park, huge premise, stadium after stadium, after stadium but now it’s a little underused which is a waste of space but I heard the pool is very popular because it’s indoors and heated. Too bad I didn’t have my suit with me. There was an area of poles where they had all the names of athletes that competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics engraved on. You wouldn’t believe how many Byrd(s) there are, Jonathan Byrd, John Byrd, Timothy Byrd, Michele Byrd…I’d wanted to look for ‘Abu’ but couldn’t find it, there were too many poles. Farah attempted to look for Villamayor but dismissed the idea.

We then headed off to Parramatta, that town has this huge shopping center, where we had our lunch. The food court was huge, it has EVERYTHING, and I mean from appetizers to meals to dessert to drinks, a whole array. There was even Gloria Jeans, I like. I still could feel the pancakes in me but at the same time I wanted to eat Kebab and we saw this Pide, filling of chicken and cheese, very big, very tempting. We shared that and each had a kebab of our own. Oh my, we stuffed ourselves completely. Farah actually kept half of her Kebab because she couldn’t finish it. We then went our separate ways from Darma and family, Farah and I went to Target and went crazy over underwear. They were so pretty and cheap! Spent most of our time in that aisle. Met up back with Darma and family outside Target, Jahon bought another toy and we discussed on where to eat for dinner. Thought we would go to Pizza Hut for the dinner buffet, Farah and I were stuffed but the very pregnant Darma seemed excited so we agreed.

Drove off and somehow ended up at Johann’s dad’s house. A surprise we knew nothing off. Met with the family, fellow Philos, very warm people. The dad cooked for us steak, with rice and chilli-ed soy sauce. I could still taste my Pide and kebab and thought about the dinner we were to have at Pizza Hut, I got really scared. Farah and I went outside to do a video diary, you could see the terror in our faces when we talked about food. We couldn’t say no, to Darma nor no to Johann’s dad. Anyways we still ate the steak, it was lovely, I actually ate two pieces of it. I think I overstuffed myself that day, I could actually have lasted with the morning pancakes alone. We got back home about 8pm and I couldn’t breathe properly. I dreaded the idea of Pizza Hut. We ended up not going which was a relief. We went on the internet from Darma’s computer and read an email from Azi. She misses us. We went back into our kiddy room and did a video diary of the day. Jahon came in and asked us what we were doing, jumped around the whole room, we decided to switched off the lights pretending to go to sleep because we didn’t want Jahon jumping around anymore, a whole day of entertaining him was tiring. So we closed the door and switched the light back on, continued with our video diary. Soon after, he came back in and asked again what we were doing. We stopped the tape and turned around and he was nowhere to be seen, we thought he had left the room. We guessed wrong, he was hiding in between our bags, in our mess of things haha that was smart of him. Darma came to our rescue and we closed the door. Put my bag behind the door cos’ the door had no lock, we signed off soon after that.



Posted 3:08 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 15

11th July 2003, Friday.

Woke up, bathe, ate breakfast. Johann drove us to the train station, Rooty Hill. There was a skate park nearby that was really cool. We bought tickets, AU$5.20 for one way to Central. It cost AU$6.20 for two way. I suggest getting small change before you buy these tickets because the change comes in form of coins. Farah had AU$14 worth of change, it didn’t look much because the AU$2 coins are small but still, it’s a lot of coins. A train trip down to town takes about 1 hour from Rooty Hill. Finally saw a mosque in Australia while in that train.

Got down at Central, saw lots of Seagulls, reminded me of Finding Nemo. Walked pass Chinatown, which is the same everywhere, lots of Chinese and Japanese folks walking down the streets, Malay faces were hard to find. Walked through Paddy Market, which opened from Friday to Sunday. It’s a huge bazaar selling pretty much everything in an indoor premise, it looks like a huge garage. Me and Farah bought socks. We had Nan for lunch, that was yummy. Walked towards Darling Harbour, images of Finding Nemo lingered in my mind, it looks exactly the same. Weirdly, that movie wasn’t out yet in Sydney. Very pretty place, lots of tourist around, that Farah and I became VERY tourist-like, amazed at everything. Crossed the Pyrmont bridge towards Harbourside Shopping Centre. The city monorail traveling right above us on that bridge, a gigantic flag of Australia flapping on a long pole on the river, the sky was turning dark, shades of pink and purple glistened the horizon, windy chills were picking up, it was all beautiful.

Bought Sydney postcards for my family, so did Farah, but decided that we should write when we have more things to write about. Darma was in the toy shop on what seems like forever, came out and Jahon bought a toy Doctor’s kit. That kid gets toys all the time. We met Johann at the McDonald’s at Darling Harbour so he could drive us back, ate a bit of Macdonald’s, drove by King’s Cross the famous red light district, it was still pretty early so nothing much to see. Headed off to Penrith for DONUTS. Oh not just any donuts, KRIPY KREME donuts. It’s a restaurant and drive through, a unbelievably long queue accompanied the front door. We queued as well, Darma and Johann kept telling us about the donuts so we thought we’d give a try. I’m not much of a donut person but I eat them. Just for queuing, you get donut samples, and the samples aren’t small pieces, it’s a WHOLE donut. My first bite of the original was just heavenly, I had no idea donuts could taste so good. It’s easy to be a Krispy Kreme donut fanatic from there. As you walk in you could see through the whole kitchen and the staff making them from the glass window. How the donuts are deep fried and lifted and coated with scrumptious sugar icing. Mmm, I remember it like it was yesterday. For as long as you wait, you keep getting fed, more and more you can’t wait to buy them. Johann treated us to the donuts, you don’t buy like one or two after a wait like that, people buy boxes of 8or 12 or 20. An array of different flavoured donut awaits you at the boxing counter, you just have to point. “I’ll have 3 of that, 2 of that, 4 of that, 3 of that…” woah, we felt like little kids, it was all good.

When we arrived back home, we ate that for dinner. It was a good day. I can still taste those donuts, the originals were the best!



Posted 3:07 PM by ">Norhidayati

suddenly there's so much opportunity to earn money. its been good. need to find time to finish up the chapters. soon.



Posted 8:13 PM by ">Norhidayati

taken after our trip down to sentosa, it was just the 3 of us, the Simeians.
had tons of fun! couldn't care less what the people in the train thought we were doing.
we called ourselves 'THREE' (i know, very very lame, feeling popstars) that's what you get when you put 3 nonsensical girls together.



Posted 8:54 PM by ">Norhidayati

trying out my hand in picture posting...



Posted 8:12 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 13

9th July 2003, Wednesday.

This day me and Farah left the house about noon. Ill and Anirda had left earlier for orientation. They were having this lawn festival with live music and free candyfloss. I was excited about the free candyfloss. So yet another day to pose as international students. We took our own time walking there, arrived and saw lots of people queuing for candy floss. Looked out for ill, found where she was, she didn’t see us. We queued for the candy floss, stole some student guide books along the way. There was this lady in front who struck a conversation with me. Said hi, asked where I was from, what am I studying? The first thing that came out of my mouth was film. She gave me that confused look. I panicked and started talking to Farah, then it was my turn to get the candyfloss. Met up with ill and she was going to sign up for the S.I.S.A (???) Singapore international student association, so me and Farah sat outside the refractory. Walked around a bit, was asked to join a Christian association, then a Scandinavian club. Told the girl we’re not Scandinavian, she said neither was she. That was funny. Sat at the lawn enjoying the music, ill came by dumped their bags and went to collect their food. A choice of vegetarian noodles or chicken rice. They had coupons, we didn’t. They ran out of vegetarian noodles, ill had the last box. We left for Queen Street then to eat.

Brought them to McArthur’s to eat kebab. Me and Farah finished ill’s noodles. We were on a budget. After that we walked to Chinatown to look for the halal meat butcher. I don’t remember why we ended up being way at the back, they were walking far in front of us. I think we went to make a phonecall to Darma, Noa’s sister, to inform her we were arriving at Sydney the next day. It was a long walk, we sang our hearts out to Jewel’s Foolish Games. Arrived at Chinatown, found the Halal Butcher, the girls bought chicken among other things. We actually got excited when we found chilli. We took the train back to Roma Street. I actually got stopped from filming by this guy at the station. Have it on video. Arrived at our station and we clumsily exited at the wrong side. Ended up at Roma Street Parklands. Beautiful place, a huge park with lakes and gardens and other things. Ducks everywhere. It was close to evening and the sun was setting so it was just lovely. The camera went from ill to me to Farah. Only after I saw back that tape did I realize how many times ducks were featured in it. We all took videos of ducks obsessively. We decided to walk back and it was a long way around that Parklands. We made a huge detour around it. Finally we got home and Anirda, our master chef cooked for us Ayam masak Kicap. Just when we were so excited to start eating, we realized we forgot to cook the rice. So we had to wait for 15minutes. It was an agonizing wait.

Later that night we were to go to Mt Coot-Tha. Managed to convince Anirda to join us. I was that good. We decided to make some sandwiches, took our time, watched TV. Finn was coming at 9.30pm. But then to our horror, it rained at about 8pm. My spirits were dampened. He called and said maybe we could go for a drink instead. I don’t know where we went but I remembered a mini Eiffel tower somewhere. Sat at Coffee Club and had some really nice chocolate drinks. 4 girls, 1 guy. Asked Finn on his take for the best looking men, he had a hard time coming up with a list. Asked for his list of favorite girls, my god, it flowed like water.

The rain had stopped and I kinda begged if we could drive up. We did and I was glad we made it there. It was incredible. Definitely a sight. It has this effect on people, this overwhelming feeling. I think all of us got a little emotional up there, I know I did. The girls sort of split up, Anirda spent most of her time in the phonebooth. Farah and ill were somewhere else. I had a wonderful time up there, perfect view, perfect weather, perfect company.



Posted 5:10 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 14

10th July 2003, Thursday.

We woke up and packed our bags, bathe and everything. Getting ready for our flight at 2pm. I decided to take a video diary of what happened last night and was confused at the fact that the tape had finished. I distinctly remembered having only shot 27minutes on it. So I re-winded the tape and played it. There was nothing on screen, just audio. I think Farah must have seen the look on my face. Immediately, she just snatched the camera! I panicked, begged her to give it back, I really begged her. She was just messing with me. I remembered having the camera in my trench coat pocket last night when we arrived back at the house. The girls went back in and I stayed with Finn in the car. I guess it must have been on record when it was in my coat pocket. Luckily the lens cap was on.

We left the house with the 2 girls, twinkle dum and twinkle dee, ill and Anirda respectively. Had wanted to take the train but being the pampered backpackers we are, we decided to take a cab. There were no cabs in sight, ended up at the Roma Street station taxi stand. We could have taken the train but by then we got tired, I think that was the furthest we’ve walked with our bags. I had sprained my ankle the night before at the front door,randy when I was getting into the house after leaving Finn’s car, what a way to start off my Sydney trip. Arrived at the domestic airport, bought these really expensive drinks, complained about it as we walk towards the gate of our Virgin flight, passed the Virgin Loo, discovered our flight was a little delayed. So we sat, finished the tuna sandwiches of yesterday. I remembered it was my sister’s birthday; the one above me who’s 9 years older, which means it’s her 30th birthday. Messaged her Happy Birthday, called my mommy and it was time to board. Our seats were at the back end of the flight, meaning we had to walk down to the plane ground and climb the stairs up. I swear I felt like a pop star. Farah got the window seat so that was exciting, the flight to Brisbane from Singapore we had the aisle seats. 1 hour passed pretty fast, coming off the plane was even more exciting. We exited the plane and climbed down the stairs. Walking towards the terminal like some celebrity. I had a blast, caught it all on video.

Met Darma, Noa’s sister, with her husband Johann and son Jahon. It was very easy to spot her, she actually looked just like Noa. Jahon was like a Duracell bunny. Non-stop hyper ness. We stopped by to get halal meat at some butcher and picked up a heater from the In-Law’s house. We slept in Jahon’s room, a very toy infested area, everywhere you turn, there’s a boxful of toy. Anyways, Jahon almost suffocated with a pillow, Farah ignored that, no help whatsoever! He hammered us with this machine gun and this huge toy pirate ship. Bruised up I tell you. I guess the boy just enjoyed having company he can play with at home, that is if I don’t die at the end of it. We had dinner, tacos with the works. Never have I eaten so much taco in my life. I swear we had close to 10 tacos each, maybe more. After dinner we watched Charmed and Jahon fell on his face while playing with this blanket. It was amazing the amount of blood that came out of that kid. Darma was just so cool about it, she just had Jahon tilt his head up and she held a pile of tissues to his face and nose. Throughout the whole episode of Charmed, the boy was bleeding. That was scary but according to Darma that happens all the time.

By 8.51pm, we were tucked in. I chosed the bed with the High-5 blanket, Farah took the bed with an animal blanket. ill messaged saying that she misses us, aawww, how the house is so quiet without us. We felt missed, how sweet. We also felt like little kids, it was still early, we were wrapped underneath cute blankets, in a room filled with toys. The up side was the warmth. Sydney was a lot colder than Brisbane but thank goodness for the heater. We did a long video diary and I guess we were pretty tired. We slept so soundly after that.



Posted 5:10 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 12

8th July 2003, Tuesday.

Ill left with Anirda early that day for orientation. We left the house a bit later, ill left her key with us. She told us to go buy 3 towels, so that was our agenda for the day. Farah thought it would be a good idea to buy another jacket and shoes for our Sydney trip. While we were making our way down, we were thinking of duo names since now there were only two. Pinky and the Brain, Jack and Jill, Jack the Beanstalk, I kinda like that one, I was the beanstalk. Then we came upon this poster at the Brisbane Kids Theatre, the adventures of SNUGGLEPOT and CUDDLEPIE. The creatures were cute, we liked it, so it stuck with us to this day. Farah is Snugglepots and I am Cuddlepie. We tend to mix our names up occasionally, but hey we’re forgetful. We split up to find the better-priced towels, I went to Crazy Clarke’s, Farah headed to Target. Met up again and decided on Crazy Clarke’s.

We spent the whole day lazing around the benches there, people watching. I rambled on and on this day, can’t remember what, can’t remember why, Farah wasn’t even listening. This was the start of Hida’s and Farah’s stupid antics or should I say snugglepot and cuddlepie? Farah accidentally called me while sitting right beside me, I actually answered that call shouting hello 4 times cos’ it was noisy. There was this girl beside us who almost choked on a piece of chicken, she was fun to talk to. Kept seeing this same couple walking up and down the street, kept seeing a lot of the same ppl walking up and down the street. Somehow there were a number of ppl walking with musical instrument cases, lots of them. Then we got hungry and decided to walk further down and came across Macarthur’s which we’ve never been to. Decided to eat the Kebab, and woah was it huge! It was incredible, definitely the best kebab ever. Ill called and we met up with her, Anirda and two other Singaporeans, Faizal and Zakir. They ate some Indian food. Farah and I waited downstairs because we couldn’t sit still, we were too hyper at that point and it was nice to get some fresh air. They finished eating and I saw ill coming down the escalator, the rest were far behind her. I told Farah that I swear ill would say this “Faizal is so Manis!” to us. So she came towards us, walking very calmly as though nothing great happened that day. As she came closer, she blurted out those exact words. Farah was amazed. I knew it! I figured she would think he was cute. That’s what ill always says. That’s her trademark.

The guys left and us girls walked home. Had the weirdest revolution with Anirda. Somehow we all had common friends. It was just creepy, off all places to find out, in a foreign country, what are the odds.
Anyways that night we braided our hair and made a mess of ill’s room. Oh and Farah never bought another jacket or shoes, she suffered the consequences of it later on.



Posted 12:53 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 11

7th July 2003, Monday.

We lazed around in the house. Ate breakfast, watched TV (I figured how to tune it for ill) and left about 3pm to Queen Street to collect pictures that Farah and ill sent the day before, I think, I don’t remember when they sent it. But I know we collected it this day. Hung around Queen Street Mall for a while and headed back to cook dinner around 5.30pm. We walked home, up the hill, where the park is and discovered the name. It was called HARDGRAVE Park. We didn’t utter it in Malay throughout the journey. Sends shivers down my spine. Kubur Keras…
Anyways it was a harmless park but the name just scares me. Up and up that hill, up Mount Joy Street, up Saint James Street, finally reaching the house. We just collapsed onto the mattress. It was definitely easier going up in a car. Up hill all the way, does wonders for toning legs. But we found a different route later during our stay so it wasn’t so bad.

We were so badly shaken after the walk, we cooked dinner 3 hours later. Had rice, did a special sauce for our fish fillets, cooked really spicy potatoes and had a nice feast. Had wanted to go to Mount Coot-tha that night but Finn remembered it was his dad’s birthday so we didn’t. We pretty much just chilled like crazy this day, even I can’t remember much of what we did. I know we saw Queer as Folks on TV, this show all on Gays and Lesbians, very beautiful people, familiar faces too. A show that’s definitely not hitting Singapore anytime soon, maybe not ever. Their one night stands, break ups and so on. I admit I quite frankly enjoyed that show. It was odd watching it but it was entertaining. That guy in Silk Stalkings was in it. Well Farah slept on the top bed. She complains about it till this day.



Posted 12:51 PM by ">Norhidayati

reading a book at the moment...havent finished it yet...but highly recommended by me. called Emotional Unavailability by Bryn C. Collins. now i understand the whole cliche when ppl say "this book changed my life". its a good book, its definitely changing mine.

been recapping my yet to be written chapters...but then i got tired. plus im a little under the weather...everyone is, weirdly. we shall all be well in due time, it's all in the head.



Posted 5:46 PM by ">Norhidayati

found something i wrote in a book a while back, on the 26/02/2002

is anything ever possible in this life?
to find to feel to touch
sweet intoxication
plain antics decisively surrounds
a massive punctured glass
cornered by a torn tee shirt
twist the denim fabric
move alongside a wall
sit if you can
flowingly succumb to the wind
drenched perspire
tiredness in their eyes
if i could and i would
make the world the world a better place
it would all dissappear.

made me remembered myself back then. things change. i don't like full stops cos' it end sentences.



Posted 9:26 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 10

6th July 2003, Sunday. I woke up and I couldn’t feel my leg. It felt rigid. It was piercing. So I was trying to move my leg and felt like I was kicking something, found Farah at the foot of the bed. I got up and told Farah to move into the corner where I had slept. I decided to go take a shower. Saw Michael and Finn outside clearing the garden, moving back the furniture. Everyone else has left. Thank goodness for water heater. Took a nice warm shower. Got back into the room and apologized to Farah for kicking her. Then ill went to take a shower. I went out and found Finn watching TV. Apparently he went home and came back. He didn’t sleep at all. We sat there watching some music chart show. I was appalled at how many girls there were in the charts who were taking off their clothes. Some sort of freak self discovery? Well sex sells I guess but then again you just start losing credibility.

The rest of the girls then got ready. Ill was sweet enough to pass me some juice and donut, I was too comfortable sitting in front of the TV. Thanks ill. I asked Finn if he could drive us to a supermarket after the airport, he was sweet enough to say okay. Then we headed off to the airport. Azi was with Michael, the three of us with Finn. Farah and me stuffed our bags in the trunk. I really felt like a wandering nomad, it was pretty fun. We got to the airport, and the Qantas check in queue was exceptionally long. We sat at the nearby chairs and fell asleep. Farah and Ill stretched themselves along two separate benches, very comfortable. I lied on Finn’s shoulder, just as comfortable. Just as we were getting really into our sleep, Azi came by, so we moved to the waiting lounge where they had these lovely couches. Waited for a while till her flight gate was open. Ill and Azi said their goodbyes, very moving moment. Wished she could have stayed a little longer, she discovered she could have after reaching home, sorry girl.

After that we said our goodbyes to Michael, that was the last I saw him.
We left to put our bags in ill’s house, Finn actually got lost a bit, I can’t remember where we ended up, poor guy he was so sleepy. We kept talking just to keep him awake. After we dropped off the bags, we ended up at a huge Coles Supermaket, and we made our rounds. I didn’t end up walking around that much, I was with Finn at some aisle. There were these three cute, barefooted little boys, between the ages 5-9, siblings probably, looking for a particular syrup which I didn’t know we were blocking, Finn apparently heard it and passed them a bottle. They were charming, reminded me of my nephews back home. Time passed, we spent about 2-3hrs there surprisingly. All of us were so tired and sleepy, it was horrible. But we spent about AU$60+ for a trunk load of things so that was great. We drove back to ill’s house and Finn headed off to get some sleep. He needed it.

The most comfortable double mattress, added in by David, welcomed us. Complete with thick blankets. Very kind of him. Fantastic landlord. Met Anirda who just arrived that afternoon. Good to know ill has a friendly face staying in the same house. We slept straightaway. Woke up and it was dark. Decided to cook our own little thing. Rice (using ill state-of-the-art microwave rice cooker), fried eggs and fish fillets for ourselves. Eating rice was the best perk. After that we stayed inside. I was trying to figure out how to tune the TV set, didn’t seem to get it right, I gave up, will try again tomorrow. We sat around and talked, “and then there was three”. Its like survivor, Azi has been voted out haha. Well she did it willingly. Didn’t watch television at all, I was amazed at how well we coped without it. Again, we were our own source of entertainment. We had our own friendly dispute of who gets to sleep on the double mattress, came to a conclusion that we’ll alternate. One person will have to sleep on the single bed, with the thin single mattress, and a thin blanket (not very inviting isn’t it). We had to make do.



Posted 9:11 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 9

5th July 2003, Saturday. Ah the lovely of 5th of July. It was my birthday by the way, 21st. We had to check out of YHA at 10am. So we woke up early. Said our goodbyes to our room, which we have grown attached to. Headed out to the lobby. Returned our keys. Sat outside waiting for Michael. We were going to spend the night in his house, there was going to be a BBQ. He came and we stuffed our bags and ourselves in the car. I swear I couldn’t feel my leg. We arrived finally and he showed us where we could put our bags. Azi dumped her bags in Michael’s room. Michael said that I was to have the other bedroom, which has one bed. He mentioned he had couches where ppl could sleep in. I remembered thinking “then where is Farah and ill going to be, aren’t we all sharing a room?” I then understood the situation and told Farah and ill to dump their bags in that room that was “allocated” to me. I told them not to leave me alone. I panicked.

Anyways, we left of for some grocery shopping. Actually Michael and Azi went shopping, the 3 of us wandered of elsewhere on our own. Then they left to go buy meat, so it was me, Farah and ill alone in the supermarket. We walked around and discovered how much cheaper things were there. We got excited. Obviously we would do a little shopping but we couldn’t do that much, so we came with a plan that we would do full fledge grocery shopping the next day, after sending Azi off at the airport. So it was very cautious shopping this time around. I don’t remember what we bought, but I knew we bought these really lovely donuts and juice. Sat outside at a café waiting for them to get back, ill bought this potato thingy. Potato balls with gravy, forgot what it’s called but it was lovely. When they got back we then drove off to go buy ice.

Before getting ice, we stopped by at this drive thru that sells wine. That was pretty bizarre. Michael ordered a bottle from his car. Apparently it was common there. We got back and played cards at the outside porch. Ppl started coming, most of them we noticed from the rugby game. They had a bonfire lit and we had chairs put all around it. That was fun. Ate the best chicken I’ve ever tasted. Compliments to the chef. One of their friend’s girlfriend, Kate, was celebrating her birthday on the same day as me. 5th of July baby rules yup. So they took out two separate cakes. I didn’t know they bought a cake, so that was a pleasant surprise. The girls smeared cake all over my face. They had a lot of fun. I had a hard time washing it off. My skin was definitely oily but it kinda gave it a nice glow. I must have looked delicious. Occasionally all four of us would run into the room with the one bed and snuggle ourselves under the blanket, get warmth from one another because the house was very cold. All 4 of us could somehow fit comfortably in that single bed, it was quite amazing.

We went outside to the front of the house to look at the stars. It was beautiful, the whole sky was covered with them. Farah, Azi and ill actually laid on the grass. I bet the view was great lying down. They ran back in because it was too cold. I stayed outside with Finn. He told me if we were lucky, we could catch a shooting star. He shouldn’t have told me that. I starred at the sky for the longest time, no luck whatsoever. He was sweet enough to stay with me all the while, we got back in after our necks got cramped.
We sat around the bonfire and Jamie suggested we play this game, which reminded me and Azi of something that we would always use to do in class. It was to continue a story from where the previous person has left off. That was fun, we did 2 stories around that bonfire. Slowly the crowd dispersed to go to sleep. There left Jamie, Kate, Finn, Me and Farah, stoning away. I was getting really sleepy and really cold so I walked into the room to find ill comfortably asleep occupying the whole bed. I went back out. Laid on the couch outside the room, tried to sleep. I think I did for about 10minutes but I couldn’t take it. It was definitely one of the coldest nights I experienced there. I got back into the room and squeezed my way beside ill. That night was definitely the most uncomfortable sleep I ever had. I think I slept for less than 2 hours.



Posted 6:15 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 8

4th July 2003, Friday. Had mac and cheese with toasted bread in the morning. Lovely. This day was Azi’s extreme shopping day, her last shopping day. So we decided to split and meet up again every one hour to regroup. At least that was the plan. Azi left in an instant the minute we arrived and the 3 of us sort of got together and wandered around and chilled. We went into City Beach again, Farah saw these nice Roxy brown shoes, she was contemplating on whether to get them. We got so engrossed looking at things that we missed our 2pm meet up outside Hungry Jacks. We were late by 10minutes. Didn’t see Azi, so the three of us just chilled. So the plan now was to just to meet Azi at 5pm, forget about the hourly round ups. The 3 of us just bummed around. We looked around at the different flight centers, to see if we could get the best price for our Sydney flight.

5pm, met Azi, she had loads of bags in her hands. The girl really went shopping. I remember her being so excited over a perfume she bought, Celine Dion. She said she wanted to be the first in Singapore to have it. Haha, funny girl. She was broke. She couldn’t even afford a Mc Waffle Cone, ill treated her to one later on. Me and Farah booked our Sydney flight, with one the friendliest travel agents ever, Jane, our buddy, the whole agency was a little whack, that was fun. Somehow my ticket cost $18 less from Farah’s just because it was clicked faster. The ticket prices goes up and down frequently. After that we ate at Hungry Jacks. Didn’t feel like going home yet. So we ended up sitting at the staircase in front of the customs house. We sat there forever. Singing, laughing, people watching, taking pictures, gossiping, singing again, till we couldn’t stand the cold anymore, and headed back.

Farah complained that she brought playing cards down and we didn’t play any card games so that night it shall be. We played the stupidest games that night. We played outside at the garden, Farah taught me Taiti. It got too cold so we went to the lobby. This guy yelled at us for being noisy, we got so angry, who the hell does he think is? He wasn’t even a staff. The least he could do was be more polite. It didn’t matter the fact that he was cute, he was obnoxious. We left in peace and went to our room. No asshole could dampen our spirits.

Had the video cam on Azi’s bed recording everything we did. Ill went off to make a phonecall, so it was only the 3 of us. Played murderer with 3 ppl, 1 detective, 1 killer, 1 victim, you could guess how long each game was. Played SNAP. Played UNO. Played SANJUKU. Played EE-MAU-CHIEN (???), some coin passing game. Then when ill came back and we played Taiti. Me and ill got so good that we sort of panicked the veterans, Farah and Azi. We played and played, midnight strike, they sang me a birthday song. They actually forgot it was my birthday the next day. It was only when I mentioned I got a birthday message from Shiks that they realized. I did that on purpose. Didn’t want to sleep, it was our last night at YHA. After we got tired of card games, we went to the TV lounge to watch TV. Sat there till we dozed off. Only then did we returned to our room to sleep.



Posted 3:42 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 7

3rd July 2003, Thursday. Laundry day. Azi came back about 6am. We rested a bit, woke up and bathe. We enthusiastically did our laundry and while waiting for it to be done, we watched cartoon. Azi and Farah actually slept sitting up straight! It was funny, I guess we were all so tired. Ill was packing her bag for her move to her new lodging. I remembered I left to go to the toilet for a while and when I came back I saw a very worried look on Farah’s face. She said she’s been looking for me wondering where I’d been. She went to the room, the garden, in front of YHA and back just to discover I had went to the toilet. That was funny, I guess it was one of those sudden wake ups where you tend to get up shocked. Finally it was time to put the laundry in the dryer. Azi was still asleep in her couch, hilarious. Her head was bent so low that if we had pushed her forward a little she would have fallen on the floor. We let her be, being the friends we are. It was good story material. As me and Farah were loading the laundry into the dryer, we discovered one of Farah’s sock on the floor beside the washing machine. We weren’t sure if that sock was dirty or did it fell out of the washing machine as we were emptying it. It’s still a mystery to this day. Ill came down and we cooked breakfast, the macaroni and cheese I had bought the day before. Ate it with toasted bread. My god, that was THE BEST macaroni and cheese ever! I can’t believe that microwave macaroni and cheese could taste THAT good. We ate it finger licking good. We wanted more.

After breakfast, clean clothes (Farah’s only jacket was finally clean), we called for a cab to move ill’s bag to St James Street. Met the landlord, David, very nice guy, the best landlord you could ever ask for. He told us the history of the quaint house, built in 1880. I thought the house had lots of character, very charming. ill decided to stay with us at YHA for 1 more night, so she packed some clothes and we headed out. Took a bus to town, AU$1.80, for a couple of stops. Pretty expensive. Ill would always innocently go “it’s pretty cheap, I have consession (50% discount)”. Shut up ill. We went to look for the science center. Which we later realize was closed, after being led to it by a very kind lady. Obviously she didn’t know it was closed either. Re-opening in 2004. So of to the next agenda, we looked for the City Cat, a whole day trip cost about AU$8. So we paid for that one and enjoyed the view. Had 2 guys beside us who were happily singing. We acted like pure tourist, very excited about everything. It was getting cold and the sun was setting. We got hungry so we dropped of at Southbank and ate kebab. Played at this playground. Warmed ourselves underneath the toilet hand dryer. Got back on the City Cat and continued our journey towards the other end of the river. We pretty much saw the whole stretch. It got really really cold, the wind, the night, the air, and there was a time where we just sat at separate corners not talking to each other warming ourselves.

We got off from where took the City Cat, went to nightowl to buy MAGGI mac and cheese again. Walked down towards the exhibition museum, and literally just stood underneath this furnace at a café. Sort of like homeless kids around a fire can, haha. Stood there for a long time. Our forehead actually got really warm. It was a lot of fun, all four of us standing around in a circle. Didn’t really want to move away from that place but we had to sooner or later if we wanted to get back. We finally got back and literally just covered ourselves underneath our blankets. I slept in my trench coat that night, and so did the rest.



Posted 3:36 PM by ">Norhidayati

Fixed my comment box. i suddenly have this huge want to go study in RMIT since its cheaper. we'll see how that goes.



Posted 11:37 AM by ">Norhidayati

reminiscing back is the only way i could keep myself smiling.



Posted 11:08 AM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 6

2nd July 2003, Wednesday. We left YHA early afternoon. Decided to go Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. There was a bus that we could take at Queen Street, which comes every one hour. We decided to buy food before we looked for the bus. Took our own sweet time, didn’t realize the bus terminal was underground. We thought it was one of those bus stops outside. Got directions from the information guy and hurriedly made our way to the terminal. We MISSED the bus by 2minutes. So we thought hmm…to wait for an hour or shall we find a cab. So we got to the roads and attempted to flag a cab down. It was difficult. Walked down a bit and found a taxi stand just outside this pub. The weird thing about this taxi stand was that it was on an incline, a steep incline. No cabs in sight. We were standing with this drunk girl, started talking to her, she was funny, screaming at the cabs that pass us. It took us half an hour to get one. Finally did and we made our way down. It was about 20mins I think, cost us around AU$28. I remembered ill saying that she felt like she was going into Johor, whatever that means, the distance or the surrounds. That was funny. We all did it for Azi’s sake. She wanted to see the Koalas so badly. She was so excited that when we got in, she walked so fast ahead that we actually lost her for a while. She made her way to where else but the Koalas. It was easy to find her. She got to cuddle and took a picture with one named Breckin. The excitement on her face afterwards was worth the effort we made to get there.

After koalas, we decided to go feed the kangaroos. Now Farah, ill and I have seen these animals before, but we have never actually fed them. So there we were, 4 very EXCITED little girls. A packet of kangaroo food cost 50cents, we paid for a few. The counter girl pretty much gave us the basket to take it ourselves, so off course we took more. Haha, such thieves. Feeding them was a lot of fun. The big ones were scary, taller than any of us. The small ones were cute. Ill mentioned that the bigger they are the wetter your hands get. That’s so true. That’s why I continued feeding the joeys, one whom I called Bobby, cos’ he just looks like a Bobby. The ducks were annoying, they were everywhere. One actually bit my pinky. If felt like being slammed in between a pot and lid. I never realized how flat duck beaks are. Annoying creatures. But at the same time poor things, they were just hungry. Farah was feeding this huge kangaroo, it literally took the bag off Farah’s hands and ate the bag whole. Too bad ill turned the camera away when it happened. That could have made it to the Funniest Videos. But no worries, we had more bags of food. We fed and fed and fed until there was no more food left. Got out of the compound and checked our shoes. Azi had poop on her shoes haha. Poor girl. So we waited while she scrubbed her shoes with the brushes made available there. Walked around and saw wombats, Poor Rusty. A wombat we called Rusty cos’ he was scratching the door of his cage exit which was rusty. He was trying to get out. It was heart breaking. Saw dingos, who were staring at this little boy. Although we were there, they didn’t take notice of us at all. Frightening the thought if they were out. Saw a Tazmanian devil called Spitfire, whom I personally think is mad. It was running around its cage, around and around and around and around. It was alone in there, very sad I thought. Saw 2 Diamond Pythons, beautiful creatures. Thank goodness they were behind a glass, I would have gone no where near it if there wasn’t. And off course, it being a Koala Sanctuary, we saw more Koalas. There were koalas in cute compounds with such headings: kindergarten (little ones), the boys (the matured one), the exchange program (other region ones) and the retirement home (the old ones). It was funny, the retirement home koalas looked old, dying perhaps, but still very cute. I’m amazed at how they could sleep so soundly supported by only a small branch under their butt. Incredible.

After all that, we decided to take the last bus back to Queen Street. We all literally slept on that bus. Woke up by a sudden jerk and realized we missed the bus stop nearer to where we stayed. So we had to walk back to YHA, no big deal. Rested and washed ourselves. Azi got ready to meet Michael, apparently he was going to cook her dinner. So Farah, ill and I asked for a ride to Vulture street, another potential place ill wanted to get for her accommodation, Southbank apartments. In the car, we told Michael about this guy we met at Lone Pine. He was really cute, beautiful eyes, small nose, sharp messy hair and he’s very rough, we like it rough. His name was Breckin, he’s a koala. You should have seen Michael’s reaction, it was classic. Drove up there and the three of us walked around. It was quiet but it felt safe. There was a children’s hospital nearby I remembered. Ill had initially told us the wrong address so we had walked the wrong way cos’ we couldn’t find such an address. Told her to check it again, stubbornly she said she’s sure but when she checked oops, sorry guys. That girl needs better spectacles. Better still a magnifying glass haha. Love you ill. Anyways we saw the place, didn’t go in cos’ ill was shy and we thought there wouldn’t be anyone, it being only 8pm. So we decided to walk from there to QUT, to see how fast it would take us. All we had to do was cross the Goodwill Bridge. Funny history behind this bridge, the engineers had miscalculated the length between the river, that the bridge had to be curved at both ends. I thought it was just a fancy design.

We walked over that bridge, it was the windiest bridge I’ve ever got on. We were so cold. We sat around, took pictures. And made our way over to the other side where it leads exactly to the front of QUT. We sat around there. Saw a couple of skateboarders, not very good ones but hey they tried. It was windy, it was cold and we felt like eating ice cream. The thought of walking home wasn’t inviting at all. We couldn’t move from where we were because we felt numb. I finally understood that song by Avril Lavigne that goes “it’s a damn cold night”, I never did now I do. Thankfully Finn called. He finished soccer and asked where I was. Decided to meet him at Southbank. So the three of us had to cross the Goodwill Bridge back over to Southbank. The first place we went to was the ladies. Warmed ourselves up underneath the hand dryer. Took pictures at the fake beach, walked pass the cafes there, looking for the best ice cream deal. I know we sound pretty self destructive, well we were. Finn came and I asked if there’s any place for ice cream. We got into his car, oh my, a warm car has never felt so good. And so we drove to Eagle Street Pier McDonalds, it was closed. Drove to town and walked around looking for an open McDonalds. Any ice cream was better than no ice cream. Finally found a takeaway one, near the cinema. McDonalds Waffle Cone, with three flavours, caramel, chocolate and strawberry. Lovely. Told Finn about Breckin. Same classic reaction. They’re so funny. After that lovely ice cream we left and bought some food for supper. I bought the MAGGI macaroni and cheese from Nightowl. Then back for YHA.

The three of us then sat outside and sang. Farah and I were singing “It must have been love” by roxette. We love singing there. Met Andy from Melbourne. He was walking in towards the door and the minute we saw him we stopped, he said “carry on, don’t stop” so we did. He sat with us. He reminds me of Rick Springfield somehow. He’s a lecturer from RMIT. Been living in Melbourne for over 10years, but he’s originally from Scotland, which explains the lovely accent. I always loved Irish and Scottish accents. He offered to rent a car and drive us around to wherever we wanted to go, which was very flattering. We all talked and later on we felt hungry. So the three of us went into the kitchen and cooked. Ate and did our usual nightly routine. Azi was staying over so the three did our own crazy things. Realized we were running out of clothes, so tomorrow shall be laundry day. Got ourselves prepared for it, we have to wake up early. So sleep we had to.




Posted 5:19 PM by ">Norhidayati

Before anything, to set the record straight, the 3 runaway girls we met (written in Chapter 4) happened on the 2nd night. After visiting the clubs, we sat at the TV lounge and then sat outside YHA and met those girls, it was me, Azi and Farah. Ill hadn’t arrived yet. We remembered saying that we only had one extra bed but our friend is coming in the next day. Gosh we all got so confused thinking about this. haha...thanks guys for all the help. I realized that 2nd and 3rd day was one continuous day. No wonder we were so tired.

CHAPTER 5

1st July 2003. This day we went to accompany ill to QUT. We got lost as usual, but found our way. We pretended to be students. Asked where we are from, Singapore. Where we are staying, together, and somehow we didn’t have to pay for gas. Haha. We didn’t crash a class, it was more of an orientation introduction, a settling in Brisbane talk. There was a Singaporean Indian guy who was holding the talk on lodging whom ill and I thought Shikin would fancy. I think she would. We walked around the school, checked out the cafeteria (called refractory, don’t ask me why), which was very near the creative industries department. Farah and me pondered about our future. We were hungry so we headed out to Queen Street. Walked through the City Botanical gardens (Azi and I thought it was called Gardens Point Garden, obviously not, we never know where we are. We’ll find out afterwards), which has some remarkable trees. Very scary looking ones actually. Did our girl group photo shoot for a bit then made our way to the bus stop. Took the free loop bus, which brought us to the mall. Our first encounter riding a bus there, it was historical, got it on video. Azi had bought eyeliners from priceline the day before, which she had wanted to change so we did that. Farah bought a bag cos’ she was tired of carrying around her camera bag and her pouch was too small for her camera, so thus a medium sized bag. We went to eat at subway, the only time we ate at subway come to think of it. We headed back and this time around ill wanted to see southbank, so what we did was we crossed the Victoria bridge over to southbank and crossed the William Jolly bridge back to roma street. It was REALLY cold. Farah didn’t have her jacket, neither did I. We would usually go back and take our jacket then go out again but this time around it wasn’t planned that we were going to cross the two bridges. It didn’t help that we were above water. I swear my fingers went numbed. We got back and rested. Warmed ourselves up and I got ready to meet Finn.

Michael was bringing the other girls to see ill’s permanent lodging and Kangaroo point. We all met outside YHA and went separate ways. Finn brought me to town, walked around and figured out what to do. Cold nights are fabulous for dates, you get to warm each other up. I wasn’t faking it, I was truly cold. We went to Eagle Street Pier and ended up at this really expensive restaurant and I mean really expensive. Finn is still trying to pay it off haha. Small portions for a huge amount. We just kept smiling, trying to devise a plan to run out without being noticed. That didn’t work, so he paid. We left and went to Queen Street where all the shops are closed and we sat at the benches. They were playing Indian music I remember, which was really odd. Not the bollywood type but new age Indian music, pretty nice, as though a reminder to our heritage. There we were, kissing under the lovely stars, music playing, and a man was trying to polish the floor. He went on to polish the other areas first until there was only our area left. We laughed and thought “I think we get the hint” so we left and walked for a while. It started to drizzle so we looked for the car and headed back to YHA. Finn walked me all the way in to the second building. There was the garden area in between the two buildings. We ended up staying there for a while seeking shelter under a tree. Kissing, with the rain pouring down and the sky was just magnificently bright. I remembered thinking it being pretty cliché, sweet cliché, but hey it happens. Just because it happens in the movies doesn’t mean it can’t happen in real life. Now this was my movie. I was pretty drenched, soaked from the rain, but it was nice. I went in and couldn’t find the girls in the room. So I looked for them at the kitchen area. Saw Farah and Azi, so we sat there for a while. They asked how my date was, it was lovely, extremely lovely. They told me about ill’s house, which gave them a bad vibe (ill didn’t end up staying there, she got into another house further down and much nicer), kangaroo point and the story bridge. We have this thing about bridges that we would get pretty excited when we discover a new one. Don’t ask me why. Ill was on the phone near the kitchen the whole time, she has always, ever since she got to Brisbane. So we sat there and watched TV, sat outside YHA, sat at the Garden till the wee hours. That’s what we pretty much do every night. We’re just very nocturnal. And again we would never really sleep, we would just collapse.




Posted 5:12 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 4

Monday, 30th of June 2003. We left YHA pretty late, had a good sleep in, ate breakfast and then decided to head off to Queen Street Mall. It was our first shopping escapade. The street mall was fantastic. It was where kids like us go. You could just sit there and people watch and the amount of sassy people are remarkable. Everyone dresses really well, even the older ones. Working adults in their 30s, 40s, 50s, everyone. It was the school holidays so we saw a lot young people strutting their stuff down that street. The best thing is, their not stuck up there, they're very friendly. That was one of our many visits to Queen Street. Not that we bought a lot of things, but it still felt good to be buying things that I can’t find in Singapore. Azi, Farah and I each bought a Brisbane Broncos miniature rugby ball. Not that we’re ardent fans but it’s a good memento for that night. We walked around and went into this shop called City Beach. Didn’t seem like it was huge from the outside but apparently it was 4 floors high. They had a ramp on the top floor where they would hold competitions and stuff. You don’t have this kind of things back home, so it was a lot fun. Farah saw this Vans shoe that she liked, it was on offer for AU$60. A salesgirl behind me asked if she could be of any help, I turned and stared at her with awe, took my breath away for a while, she was so pretty. If I were a guy I’d be madly in love with her by then. I snapped out of it and tapped Farah, she turned and had the same reaction. Up till now, I still remember how she looks like, very tall, red hair, flawless skin, blue eyes, the most gentle features I’ve ever seen, very endearingly beautiful. She helped Farah out with the shoes and Farah ended up buying it. I think it was partly due to the salesgirl, anyways it was a cute pair of shoes. I also thought the guy working there was quite interesting. I’m sure Farah, ill and Azi agrees. Oh yeah, and we saw the Eli look-alike again. Farah was off course, thrilled.

We went to eat Kebab at one of the food courts. Azi didn’t eat anything. Hung around Queen Street for a bit. We walked back went it got dark. while walking i heard a skateboarder coming from behind, so i told the girls that we should make way. so there came the skateboarder, he passed us real slow and smiled at all of us in thanks. it looked very sweet. ill was definitely almost thrown off the road, her legs were like butter. and you know what, it was the guy that works at city beach...sigh...

Azi went out with Michael that night. So it was Farah, ill and me at YHA. Later that night after Azi left, we cooked dinner, then Farah went to the YHA internet café, ill went to make phone calls, I was walking around YHA aimlessly. Stayed in our room a bit, listened to music. After a while, decided to go bother Farah at the Internet café. Sat beside her, she was writing her blog, I was laughing reading it, funny stuff. Was gonna go out after they were done. Then I received a phone call from Finn, so I went out to the front of YHA. Talked a bit, actually it was pretty long, about half and hour. That’s when I cleared his true native background. After deliberating on my hectic schedule, agreed to meet him the next night. Farah and ill came out, teased me a little, so I said bye and the three of us headed off somewhere. I don’t really remember what we did but when we got back, we sat outside YHA. It was cold as usual.

There was something wrong with the second building door, so we were helping a female staff out with it. In the process we became pros at opening the door using the night codes we were given. You see, YHA lock its door after 11pm? Or 12am? I can’t remember, so we were all given door codes if we were coming back late. Farah, ill and I had a fantastic time just opening doors. Anyways, sitting outside, we met 3 young girls at 2am in the morning. They were looking for a place to stay for the night and unfortunately YHA was fully packed. Somehow I don’t really see that much people around, we all tend to come back and leave at different times I guess. A female staff called for them a cab. We talked with them for a while outside, 2 of them were 16, another 15. Each of them had a small luggage. I asked where they were from, apparently they live nearby, have no idea where they are going, just looking for a place to stay for the night, and reluctantly said that it’s sort of their holiday. It WAS the school holidays season. Farah felt that they were runaways or something. I became suspicious about that too. They jokingly asked if they could bunk with us, personally I didn’t mind but neither of us said anything, so we just laughed it off. We got back in cos’ it was too cold. Pondered about those girls and laughed ourselves to sleep. Sweet.




Posted 12:42 AM by ">Norhidayati

i havent finished chapter 4...been doing other things...watched a couple of movies...hung out with lovely friends...laughs...looked for jobs...made A LOT of begedil tonight, my hands smell of potato...but i make the best ones you hear!
will continue chapter 4 soon...

anyways, promise Azi i'd put this story in...you have to hear the story behind it to appreciate the irony...ask us one day...we'll be more than glad to tell you...

This story goes out to Azi, Shikin and iLL for all their help.
An exciting story that always ends with a question.
me and Azi came up with this story on the hype of things, in her room, it was a blast.

THE QUEST FOR BENZ CONTINUES...

Where is the manager, is he gone?
Does Daniel Fury exist or could he be Benz?
Or is the father of Benz, Daniel Fury?
Should I go to the store to pass the CD...THE CD...
and to whom? Daniel Fury?
What is in the CD...or wait...is there a CD to begin with?
Was it a message for Benz...or from Benz?
Who was the manager...maybe HE was Daniel Fury?!
Benz...is yet a mystery...still a mystery...
or will he remain a mystery?
Who is Daniel Fury and when will we ever know where Benz is?
The number doesn't exist...
or are we made to believe it doesn't exist...
is Daniel Fury behind all this?
Maybe Rozelle doesn't exist...
it's all a conspiracy but by whom and for whom...
is Daniel Fury and Benz working for Gloria Jeans or pretending to be?
For a branch that opened yesterday, they really have kept themselves anonymous...but from who are Rozelle Store staffs hiding from...
and why is Benz not seeking help...
help Hida's willing to give...was her number destroyed?
Are they trying to keep Benz away to themselves...
does he even know that someone is trying to reach him?
Long hours and sleepness nights seeking out for only Benz...
will we ever know where he is?
Maybe...just maybe...could he be trying to reach us?
We could now only wait for the number to the only place where we know Benz will be...or is he even there...is our wait in vain?
He has to be there!
Wait...we must...
but is this all worth it?
For Benz, a wait for all eternity would still be worth it...
the gentle smile that lights a thousand stars is worth even the shortest glance...the soothing laughter and charming words would warmth the heart of any...will this Benz be lost forever?

HE HAS TO BE FOUND!



Posted 12:21 AM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 3

We set our alarms to wake up at 7am to welcome ill, it did rang, a couple of times, actually every ten minutes. It was on snooze on all our mobiles but we seem to have ignored them all. About 8am ill came in. I remembered hearing the sound of bags being dragged in. I woke up and turned myself towards the door. All I could say was, “ill…” and then I went back to sleep. I woke up about 5 minutes later, grab my camera and shot all the girls still asleep. Ill looking groggy from her 7 hour flight. She arrived in Brisbane on the 29th of June 2003. I saw the amount of luggage she had and couldn’t believe she made it down to our room all by herself. The plan is to drag ill out of the YHA as soon after she arrived, so we washed up, changed and left the YHA at 9.30pm. all of us were very stoned, none had enough sleep. But we walked our way down to Chinatown and Brunswick. It was a long and taxing walk…we walked and walked and walked. We came to realize that we walked our way almost to zone2. that’s a long walk my friend. But we took our time, laughed out loud, which didn’t help our legs but did good for our spirit. It took us about 45minutes to get there. Considering the speed that we walked in, it wasn’t too bad. We got to pass some really nice buildings and apartments, saw tons of buses passing our way, wishing we were in one of them, but no, we were stubborn, ill has to walk I thought, got to torture her first, and boy did we, dragged ourselves into it too, didn’t thought of that. Plus we didn’t really know what bus goes where. Give us a break it was our third day. Finally we made it. Chinatown everywhere looks the same. At Brunswick, there was a market that was selling second hand stuff, really nice clothes and very odd-looking things. We didn’t buy anything as usual. The aim was to see what was where, so if we want it, we would know where to get it. I was too tired to bother to look around, I just needed to sit. Saw a McDonald’s and we rushed there. It was almost the end of breakfast, 10.30am. ill and Azi bought the cheese toast, I had milkshake, that was super thick, I spent a whole 10minutes just diluting it. We don’t have milkshakes in Singapore McDonald’s anymore, which sucks, but it makes having milkshakes in another country a lot sweeter. We sat there for what seems like forever. Filled up our time telling ill what we’ve been up to for the past 2 days. We laughed so hard, it was nice, having our own little girl chat in a very public place. We sat there close to 2 hours, and decided to go to Eagle Street Pier cos’ there was another market there, a crafts market.

Throughout the walk, me and Farah kept doing our video introduction ending it with “next stop, Eagle Street Pier!” and somehow we never got there, we would always shoot something else, starting it again with “before Eagle Street Pier, here is….” I think there was about 4 “next stop, Eagle Street Pier!” endings. Farah came across this building that looked like the dance studio in Strictly Ballroom, that was a cool find. I could somehow imagine that show in my head happening right in front of me. Scott Hastings and Fran. Lovely film. As usual, we took our own sweet time, every one there walks really slow anyways, what’s the rush. Walked along the pier, saw the lovely sculptures of anchors and ropes kind of in the middle of nowhere but it was all nice. We made it to the pier, finally. I love the introduction Farah and me did for Eagle Street Pier, to those who have seen the video, you know what I’m talking about, it was hilarious. I actually disappeared once we arrived to Eagle Street. I didn’t even tell the girls where I went, I had this really bad stomach ache. They figured I went to find the ladies. After that I had to go look for them, it was pretty difficult, considering the amount of people there. So I just walked around, looked at the stalls and finally spotted them at the lower portion of the pier. Farah and ill were enjoying a snow cone each. We all looked so tired, so sleepy, and the time was only 12.30pm. We had walked around the whole market by then. We decided to sit (our favourite pastime) by the stairs at the pier where there was this little boy who was playing the violin. He wasn’t very good, actually he was quite horrible, but he was trying, one of those practise sessions of his. He actually got quite a bit of money just by playing there. He was cute, maybe aged 8 or 9. Who wouldn’t give money to a child, you tell me, he made a quite a bit, he earned it. I proposed to the girls that we might do an act on that stairs. Since we were too tired to sing, too lazy to move, why not we pretend to be statues. Move to a different pose every 5 minutes. They were quite excited about the idea, but none of us had enough energy to put a piece of cloth or a hat in front of us. So in the end, we just there for almost 2 hours, people watching. Farah saw this guy who looked like Eli of Felicity, and boy was she excited. And yes, he was cute, we figured he was a tourist, he had a camera.

There were quite a number of good looking tourists around, saw a few Asian families, local parents, again the whole mystery of seeing lots of fathers with their children there, it was a lovely sight. We started walking and realize that there was another market on the other side of the pier. It stated there in big letters CRAFTS MARKET. Apparently, the one we had visited wasn’t the crafts market that we had wanted to go to. It was another market, so we walked through the crafts market. Ill and Azi bought some curry chicken I think. We could have it for dinner. The thought of walking back to YHA didn’t appeal to us, but we had to. We got ourselves in this mess, we have to get out of it ourselves. So we walked back, the pushing factor was the afternoon nap that we were going to have. We slept like a baby. Woke up and felt hungry, so we went to buy some food and cooked it ourselves at the kitchen, I can’t remember what we had. Later that night, we were still quite awake. We decided to eat ice-cream at the outside porch of YHA. The key was eat it at night when its most cold. Whoever runs in first would be the loser, and would have to fold the blankets…haha…lame I know. But we were too nice on each to impose anything else. So of we went, about 1am, to the nearest gas station to buy ice cream. Azi decided she didn’t want any. Wimp. So Farah, ill and I bought our own separate ice-cream and made our way down to the front of YHA. We got this whole game on video. It started out pretty slow, we were enjoying our ice-cream, but towards the end the tension boiled and there was pressure to finish up our ice-cream. I remembered I was the slowest. I practically gobbled down the last half of the ice-cream. I swear I couldn’t feel my lips. Brain freeze. Farah finished first, followed by me, then ill. Actually I think I was the last one, but because I had it all in my mouth, it seemed like I wasn’t. Sorry ill, better luck next time. And as usual, we didn’t go to sleep after that. Slept pretty late, what’s new. We got so use to not having a television or radio in our room that we became our own source of entertainment. We were constantly laughing. So there you go. Our third day, a tiring one but what a way to welcome ill to Brisbane.




Posted 2:04 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 2

28th June 2003, we woke up pretty early, got ready, and took our time to put on our make-up. We came up with the best "make-up, wake-up" songs during these mornings. Always perk us up. I was wondering if Michael was going to bring a friend along, apparently he was. I remembered thinking, he had pretty cute friends at the rugby match. We met Michael down Roma Street, he came with a friend, Wade. Funny guy, we taught him some local colloquialisms, which he uttered the whole day. He was even rhyming with them, amazing feat, I thought. We drove down to Gold Coast for lunch, ate at Charlies’ I think. It came across to me that I’ve never gotten into a stranger’s car before, but there we were, I guess there’s a first time to everything.

We ate and Wade went on and on…I felt like we’ve created a monster. But it was all fun. Sat there till it got a little dark, about 4pm to be precise, we drove over to Michael’s place to change cars. This time around we took Michael’s car. Saw his house, beautiful place, lovely neightbourhood, you wouldn’t believe how wonderful the sky looks like there at night. He drove us back to YHA at about 6pm I think and we were suppose to go out later that night. I remembered wondering what to wear because I don’t go to clubs that much, and I don’t drink, and I wasn’t sure what the scene was like. I had this nice brown top, which I remembered I bought for my Valentine’s outing with my girlfriends. I thought what the hell, so I'd slip that on. As usual we would always take afternoon naps. It's a good body recharger I tell you.

We woke up just in time to freshen up and met Michael at about 9pm I think. He brought a friend, Finn, whom I remembered was at the rugby match. We walked over to Paddington I think, very near where we stayed. Streets of clubs everywhere. They brought us to Hotel LA, a club that plays hip hop R&B non stop…you know what I’m sayin’. Pretty people everywhere, not enough chairs if you ask me. That’s why I don’t go to clubs I think, I have to sit. Azi was giggly and Farah had a seat. I didn’t. We all talked and had a lot of fun. I had Coke, I much prefer Pepsi actually but I wasn’t complaining. Finn was definitely easy to talk to. Much easier to understand too cos’ he didn’t have much of that Australian accent. Very nice, very genuine fella. I remembered amidst the loud music, I thought Finn had said that he was half Jamaican half Danish. I was pretty close. The club kept repeating the same songs again and again, which I find quite funny. Out of all the music in the world, why limit yourself. There were huge screens of none other than rugby matches or Aussie Rulz matches. They do love their sport, and I mean they really love it. It’s everywhere. We club hopped and ended at Caxton. Jammed packed with people. Huge screens of none other than sports. This time around I had water. Azi was giggly, an extremely funny sight to watch. I always get a small kick from these kind of things. Farah was quiet, always telling me “I’m getting there, almost there”. I just smile and nod my head in agreement. Out of all the standing we were doing, it definitely got my feet really tired. My toes became cramped and I couldn’t stand properly, I was holding on to Finn’s hand for support, and he never let it go since then.

Caxton played some of the weirdest mix of music. There was a time that the music slowly went into a time warp. It began with the 90’s then the 80’s and it went way back till the 50’s. I love singing along so, off course that’s what I did. Bryan Adam’s “summer of 69”, Bon Jovi’s “living on a prayer”, “YMCA”, “Mickey”, the works I tell you. I loved it, such an odd diversity, it was great. After Azi got extremely giggly that she couldn’t even stand, I knew we had to go. So we walked back to YHA. The roads as I’ve mentioned aren’t even. So it was actually a pretty dangerous area for drunken people to be walking in. There are roads where if you fall, you could roll down. Even I had to walk a little slanted. We got back to YHA, Farah sat at a bench and she was so wasted that she told she fell asleep on that bench. Azi and Michael were running around somewhere playing funny games like “A is for Apple, B is for Ball…..and the ever famous Sanjuku”, it was hilarious overhearing them. I sat at another bench with Finn. We sat there for an hour plus, making out like crazy. I had no idea that the time passed that long. Farah said she slept and woke up and we were still at it. She decided to go in. Close to 4am, we had to say our goodbyes. Michael had to wait for Finn cos’ they came in one car. And soon after, they left. Azi and me changed into out sleeping gear and went to look for Farah, she was at the TV lounge, asleep, so soundly asleep. She said she woke up from the sounds of us laughing. They asked whether did I get Finn’s number, I said no. He didn’t even get mine. They looked at me in disbelief. I remembered thinking, a little chase wouldn’t hurt. It’s a lot more flattering that way =) It’s been one hell of a two days.

The next day, illyani was coming in at about 7am. We dragged ourselves to our room, very tired, very sleepy but didn’t want to go to sleep. We were awake till about 6am. When one would doze off another would crack a joke and it went on and on till close to 6am. We just didn’t go to sleep. I think we finally just collapsed. That was my second day in Brisbane.




Posted 7:06 PM by ">Norhidayati

CHAPTER 1

the trip of a lifetime....what a way to turn 21.
i turned 21 on this trip. i actually celebrated my birthday in another country, a cool birthday gift from my parents if you ask me. they knew i wanted it so badly, glad they trusted me enough. my birthday, 5th July. the date of my 2nd sister's engagement. it all happened so fast and my trip was already booked, there was nothing i could do but miss it. my sis was alright with it, she understood, she knew i've prayed for her happiness since like forever. its nice to see her this happy, i shall let 5th of july be her day. she did ask me to just bring something home for her. i did. bought her a nice army green Bond hipster panty and a kinky pink g-string. haha...she was laughing going on how weird her sisters are. she went "my oldest sister went overseas and bought me a bra, which is lace, just lace. my younger sister went overseas and bought me a t-shirt. my youngest sister went overseas and bought me a g-string!" my thought on it was, well she's getting married, add some kinkyness why not =)

the trip started on the 26th of June. i was excited but having a heavy heart at the same time. i actually packed on the day itself. bought a bag the day before. a real good deal. my mom was making noise that i was so unprepared but in my own head i wasn't. i knew what to do what to bring how to go about. i just like doing it at the very end. the key was, not to plan too much. it spoils the spontaniety. the essentials off course i let my family list out everything, just to please them. it feels good when they ask, "have you put your passport? have you got your ticket? have you brought your toothbrush......?" yes i have it all in. towards leaving, me and my second sis were running through all the essentials again. even ill came over to return my speakers which she had borrowed for her 21st birthday bbq. we all looked at the things i had laid across on my bed. i felt as if something was missing. they both did too. up till now upon my return, i still don't know what it is. i guess i never did forget anything. my oldest sister was kind enough to do my travel insurance for me, that i didn't thought i needed, silly me. just for the sake of adding more things in my bag, my second sister decided to make for me a first aid kit. since she is a walking clinic with tons of supplies in the cupboards of our shared room, it was easy and quick to mix and match what i would require for a month. diarrhoea pills, throat lozenges, pre-fever pills, paracetamol, band aids, axe oil, migrain pills just to name a few. and now im all set.

the flight was QF52 departing Singapore to Brisbane at 2220hrs, 26th of June 2003. me and my WHOLE family arrived there around 8.30pm. all of them, my parents, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, brothers in law, sister in law. the immediate family alone added up to 17 people including me. i love them all. a simple gesture as that means everything. video goodbyes, words of caution from every one of them, my youngest brother actually thought i was going off forever, to study, silly him. he was wondering why i only had one bag. i know he was missing me already, though he never showed it, i know he was, he's my little angel, i'll always know. a sign of relief wrote across his face. yes, your sister is coming back in a month. shortly Azi came with her family and her fan club followed behind. i wasn't sure why mr. hari raya was there, i guess he was just trying off his luck, no luck mate. Syikin, Mardi and Ill came as well. exchanged goodbyes and blaming each other for the wrong timings on holidays. Syikin is starting school and Mardi had just came back from hers and i havn't seen her, now i'm leaving and we were all just so "angry" with each other. up till now i've always thought of it as funny having Ill send us off. that shouldn't be. we'll see you in two days sweetheart! two days, who would have thought that two days could make such a difference.

Azi and I went in first, Farah had to wait for Shiv and Ravin. they were doing the amazing race, in a cab, racing to get there before final call. someone told me but i can't remember who that that should have been called the "ah-chee" race. i thought so too =)

Azi and I took our time walking down the travelator, visiting the toilet, getting all excited as we go along. our boarding gate was at the furthest end. so we enjoyed the journey down. it was Azi's first time going overseas. her excitement rubbed on to me. the first words we said to each other when we passed the immigration desk and waved our families goodbye was, "finally". we've wanted to go travelling together since we've known each other. its been a long time. stories we would create, fantasies we wished would come through is now finally beginning to happen. as we walked towards our gate, we couldn't say much to each other except smile in glee. it was a wonderful feeling. there were still a lot of people in front of us so waited around for Farah. she finally came, all panting and perspiring, complaining that she didn't know how far off the boarding gate was. neither did we. i rememebered when Azi and I were walking down, we thought to ourselves, Farah better make a dash for it. i think we were almost the last few people to board the plan. when we walked in, everyone else was already seated. and wow to eye therapy. my eyes were so fresh and awake from all the beauty i saw in that plane. including the crew. front, back, left, right, you choose. it felt good to be surrounded by everything pretty. as we were walking to our seats, row 48, which were almost at the far back, i bumped into a familiar face. i stood there in front of him trying to remember. then i finally did, it was an old lecturer of mine, Allan Rosenthal. the famous documentary filmmaker off course. it was an amazing surprise. i was trying to get his email address to ask for some letter of recommendation for the past 5 months with no luck and there he was. our brief reunion was cut short by the fact that i had to be seated. so we made our way to our seats, aisle seats. Azi was complaining on how the check-in guy cheated her of her window seat. three excited girls in an aisle seat. no one was seating beside me which means i had an extra blanket and pillow. never really used it. the whole night i don't think we actually slept. at least not me and Azi. we were busy channel surfing and playing trivia games, helping each other out on tough questions. Azi slept on occassions, a few minutes here and there. Farah slept quite a bit, i guess she was tired. i remembered i didn't sleep at all. entertaining ourselves has always been our favourite past time, even from the beginning it all reacted well. Farah and Azi never knew each other well before this trip. 2 good friends of mine hitting it off. i think they enjoyed each other's company, i'd like to think i had something to do with it =). seven hours passed quite fast.

Allan Rosenthal came over to my side some time during the flight to ask what was i doing, how i've been, where i'm going. it was a good chat. he mentioned how good i looked, oh thank you. he was going over to teach some courses and hold some talks. he was teaching some in Singapore, now he's flying off to Brisbane, then he's headed off somewhere. the life of a Film educator. the life i would love to have. at the end of the flight when we were all getting ready to get off, i don't remember seeing him at all. as quickly as i saw him, the quicker he dissappeared. like a passing vision, meant to tell me something.

we arrived on Brisbane grounds approximately 0740hrs, 27th of June 2003. the three of us smiled at each other acknowledging each other's accomplishment. it was early morning and our flight arrived almost simultaneously with a JL flight. so it had to be a very long queue at the immigrations. despite the tired eyes, we had excitement written all across it. the queueing wasn't bad at all, i got to pass the very same good looking lads we saw on the plane again and again and again. it was worth it. i was thinking that the mass of people going through immigration would tick the workers off, but they were ever so lovely. then on it struck me that the people of brisbane were all just wonderful. i think the best thing about them is that they don't rush themselves. they do things at they're own pace and thats fine with me. i was in no rush either. and neither was everyone else. what's the whole deal with rushing anyways? even the baggage check guys were pleaseant, it was incredible. they joked with us, laughed with us, did everything with wit and pleasantness in their faces. you have to remember that this is in the morning and there were 2 international flights touching down at the same time. didn't piss them of at all. it was hard to believe.

i knew we could take the coachtrans to the city. a bus service from the airport to the city. what i didn't know was that they actually would drive us to the doorstep of our hostel. AU$25 for 3 people. it was a clean, cozy, white, van bus, we had to put our bags in a separate trunk on wheels behind the van attached only by a hook. it was funny, i had my eye on that thing for almost the whole journey. saw our first ground view of brisbane in that van. the sky was clear blue, not a cloud in the sky. the weather just perfectly chilly. the kind of weather you don't perspire in. i think the temperature was 20?C that morning. we passed the brisbane river, off course not knowing it was the brisbane river back then, saw the buildings all around, drove through the city and arrived at YHA Brisbane at Roma Street. we arrived at around 0930hrs. Brought our bags down with the help of our wonderful driver and made our way to the reception. my first impression of YHA was that it had a very homely feel to it. very quaint and friendly. the reception guys were off course friendly. the old man who was checking our booking was trying to figure out how to put 3 girls in a room when the one who made the booking isn't there yet. he figured it out and we were actually pretty early so there was still a girl in our room who was packing to leave. we came in and said hi, chatted with her a bit as she was folding the blankets and stuffing things into her bag. i remembered she was irish, very beautiful green eyes and long curly dark hair. don't remember her name though. i probably could if i tried hard enough. but it's alright. she left and there were 4 beds in the room. a bunk bed near the door, Azi took the bottom bed. a single bed in the middle which Farah took, right below the fan, which we hardly switch on. and another single bed which is higher in height by the window. i believe it was as high as where my chest is. i took the bed by the window. i had a ledge to put my things, the bed was as high as the ledge. a fantasticly huge window right beside me.

our room was in the 2nd building, 2nd floor. well there's only 2 storeys in both buildings. so everyday we would pass the open air area in between the 1st building and the 2nd. since it was built on an inclined, we had to climb the stairs down to get to our buiding, there were benches and a cool attap there surrounded by a little garden, where smokers could smoke and sometimes people would just hang around there. i remembered we hung around there quite a bit. our room was very near the staircase which led to the kitchen, laundry room and tv area downstairs. we were more than happy with where we stayed.

fresh off the plane, we put our bags in our room. there were 4 lockers in the room, each for every one of us. me and Azi didn't have a lock so we would put our important things like passport or air ticket in Farah's locker. i always carried my passport around with me. we changed, washed our faces at the mass shared ladies. it was very clean, with 4 showers and 3 toilets. we somehow never had to fight for shower use, everyone used it at different times. after washing our faces applied some makeup, we went out at 1030hrs. we asked one of the workers in YHS on what we can do, she suggested we go see the fake beach of southbank. so off we go, our first day in brisbane. up till today, i still can't believe how beautiful the sky is there. the weather, like an air-conditoned room but with fresh air. i couldn't smell pollution. we started walking down roma street and we crossed the william jolly bridge. we didn't really know where we were going and we just walked where our hearts desire. crossing the bridge was cold. the wind was really strong and it didn't help that we were above water. it was a good feeling, we were so high on life, constantly laughing. that's what we were, a laughing bunch just high on life.

as we got across, we passed the queensland musuem. as we learn it was free, we made our way in. it was an interesting musuem. dating queensland history from 1900 to 1800 to prehistoric. the higher the level, the farther back you're being brought into history. you wouldn't believe the different range of weird animals Austraia possess. they're all weird, non of them are what we are all so use to seeing. in a quirky way it was all good, what's the point of going to a country where everything is the same or common. seriously speaking, the land of Australia possesses the weirdest animals you could ever imagine. just like the people, they're different, in a very quirky way. there were lots of kids with their parents. very cute little babies and toddlers running around. we soon discovered it was the school holidays so thus many young people around. i didn't take any videos inside fearing that i couldn't though i didn't see any signs saying i couldn't, but no one was taking any pictures so decided to bail. i took some when we went outside, there was this replica of a whale which was huge, hanging from the ceiling. Azi took some pictures and we walked down to southbank. there was a market happening there, we read that in a brochure we took. one of the many brochures that we would take along the way. we had a whole collection of brochures by the end of the week, all stacked up below my bed. we were lucky to have arrived on friday, because markets happen during the weekend. straight away we had things to do and see. we didn't buy anything, it was still too early to. needed to last myself for a month.

we ate CHIPS and fish, huge portion of chips on that plate, tons of ibis flying all around us, these aren't small birds by the way, they're big, about 2feet in height, with beaks long enough to touch the floor. we were cautious the whole meal. kept bumping into these 2 fathers with their kids, everywhere we went. we realise that we saw a lot of fathers with kids there, where were the mothers? fathers there are excellent, they can take care of their kids on their own, that's how a father should be. anyways we went to the fake beach, it was a pretty funny sight. there was even a lifeguard there, that was pure fun. even though fake beaches is a norm in Singapore, the sands at the southbank fake beach was awesome. there it was, winter in brisbane, guys in trunks and girls in bikinis baking themselves in the sun. the sun was scorching but the breeze was chilly. it was just funny to see it all. walked around somemore, bought some postcards and laughed out loud, until jetlag finally hit us at about 2.00pm. we decided to go back and rest. walking back was dreadful. we were high and tired and we couldn't stop laughing at everything. the roads in Brisbane aren't very level, there's always a slight inclined or decline everywhere so naturally we would either be walking uphill of downhill. we were so tired but so giggly that it didn't help. it exhausted us further. we would stop at every bench we saw along the way. the funniest had to be when we stopped on this one bench opposite the musuem. we just couldn't get up. we saw people walking past us at a constant speed, we then vowed that the key to succeeding our walk home was to walk at a constant speed. we were laughing at ourselves on that bench. we laughed so hard that i fell of the bench, the other two almost. there were lots of cars in front of us, many stopped for the traffic. we were so tired that we had hoped for one kind soul to drive us back to our hostel. there was this cute guy in a really nice blue car that stopped in front of us, the traffic light was red, i was thinking to myself "oh won't you please give us ride". he was actually looking at us laughing. when the traffic light turned green, he hesitated a bit before slowly driving off. we were too tired to signalled to him or anything. that was one hell of a missed chance. we were mad at ourselves, we were going "oh my god, he actually hesitated", he was thinking of giving us a lift! damn! we'd like to think so =). we saw the road sign flashing, that at 7pm, roma street would be closed. we wondered to ourselves why, later that night we were to find out.

after that painful walk back, we reached YHA and straight away fell asleep. it was a good nap, which actually felt like it was a good long sleep. we woke up about 6pm. after washing up, i don't remember if we actually bathed, well anyways, we washed up. i changed to a new t-shirt, we decided to go out that night. first night out in Brisbane. we learned that at night it got really cold, colder than the day, around 11?C. i had my trenchcoat, so glad i brought that bulky, heavy thing down. i'm not one who withstands cold that well. just picture this scenario, i share a room with my second sister, she would blast the air-conditioner at the lowest temperature, have a fan facing her and would sleep so soundly without a blanket at all, whereas i would be in socks, long pants, a t-shirt, a hoodie and a thick blanket over me. to think going through that every night would make me bold of the cold. it didn't. we walked out of YHA and saw the road blocked. large groups of people walking in one direction. we looked at each other and decided to follow the crowd. follow where the locals are going. we walked and laughed and ended up at a stadium which is not far from where we stayed. suncorp stadium. apparently there was a game, what we don't know. who were playing, we don't know either. seems like fun, every brisbanean seemed to be there, both young and old. what better way to experience brisbane than to do it the way the locals do.

so we bought tickets AU$19.50. it was the Brisbane Broncos VS Sydney Roosters. but what game were they playing, the field looked like a rugby field, so we thought, "i think it's rugby". soon enough the whole stadium was filled with people. close to 25,000 people i think attended that game. before the game started there were these good-looking guys selling raffle tickets. we thought no, got to save our money. our money. we turned down one very good looking black guy and we were really sorry to have dissapointed him. our bold front crumbled when we saw this other raffle boy. he was walking at the front rows of our aisle, i swear me and farah were going to ourselves "do not ask us to buy your raffle tickets, do not ask us to buy your raffle tickets" and gracefully he made his way in front of us. with that killer smile and charming persona, he got us to get 2 raffle tickets. me and farah couldn't hold ourselves. we blamed it all on him. we were surrounded by guys actually, good looking ones. it seems that everywhere we go, we're constantly surrounded by good-looking people. not that we're complaining. the game started and we decided to cheer for the home team, the Brisbane Broncos. not like any of us know the rules of rugby, but we know when someone scores or when its a NO TRY, so we were there feeling the whole game. it was fun shouting and cheering, i had a blast. at first we thought Broncos' mascot was a dinosaur. i think it has to be that dinosaur on top of the musuem that contributed to us thinking that brisbane adores dinosaurs. in actual fact it's a horse. anyways, a guy was interested in Azi, Michael, he started giving out hi-fives to all of us, he sat at the row in front of us. weird australian. it was after another friend of theirs came and Michael had to move in but instead of moving in, he moved up, beside Azi. i guess that's where their friendship blossom, whatever =) he offered to bring us out tomorrow because it was his day off. okay, it would be cool to get a local bringing us around. the game ended and we took some pictures, very few pictures actually, there was group of japanese tourist who took pictures continously during the game. dvcam, digicam, the works, we on the other hand played it cool, feeling local haha.

so end of game, Michael took Azi's number, he tried to call her there and then, but couldn't even with Singapore's country code in front. he figured it out, apparently in Australia calling overseas has to include 0011 in front of the country code. if only i had known this that day. i bang my head againts the table and the walls everyday for not knowing this. we made our way back to YHA, all excited. bought some bread, milk, marmalade at a nearby gas station and ate supper. slept and couldn't wait for the next day. the plan, 11am, outside YHA tomorrow.



Posted 10:10 AM by ">Norhidayati