Adelaide Trip: 1st Day

We left Singapore for Adelaide, via Kuala Lumpur on 13th March 2009. I have never flown to KL from Singapore before. So it was my first time flying in a bloody ancient mini plane. But I was excited at the same time. Cos I get to check out KLIA.


It was a 55 mins flight, or maybe less; wasn't paying attention to the time. Had orange juice and read some stupid magazine.


When we landed, I was soooo excited to explore KLIA. We had to take the train to the International Airport or something. Not sure wtf its called. Anyway, its so BIG! It has a number of prayer rooms for Muslims to carry out their prayers. But they don't have a variety of Halal eateries. Anyway, we didn't have time to grab a bite as we had to quickly make our way to our boarding gate which was so bloody far away. My grandmother had to be wheeled around. She didn't like it initially. But she pretty much had a free pass to enter the plane first. HAHA!

When we checked in our luggage in Singapore, we were told the plane was almost full. So they had to place us at the end of the plane. It was a blessing in disguise. Because the toilets were just a few steps away from where we were seating, and almost always unoccupied. And surprisingly, there were free seats available at the back. So some people were using the entire row of seats as their bed. They served us dinner with a chocolate bar. And because Australia is so anal about diary products entering their shores, the air steward gave my whole family a truckload of extra chocolates!! I kept eating a bar after another, and felt guilting after. I also found out Malaysia Airlines provided the direction of the Kaabah. Which was a surprise, because Emirates and Qatar airlines doesn't provide such services.

Anyway, didn't watch any movies, cos I was so bloody sleepy.

We arrived at Adelaide on 14th March 2009, 7 am local time (which was 4.30am Singapore time. My Singaporean boyfriend was either sleeping or playing computer games.) The 7 hour flight was really boring. I wonder how people manage a 23 hour flight!! Crazy!!

Anyway, when I wanted to get my passport stamped, the bloody customs officer asked me a million and one questions: Like who am I staying with, what my relationship is with this person, when was the last time I met this person, what places will I be visiting, and who paid for my tickets. Fast forward, we had our luggage checked for food items. They let thru dried squid that stank so bad, dried chilli and herbs, cans of squid, pineapple tarts, potato curry puffs... but not packets of keropok (crackers). Because they said there might be traces of eggs. What stupid fool. They categorize all types of crackers under one. Eggless or otherwise. Crackers = no entry. However in Melbourne, they allowed the same crackers to pass thru their borders. So I think it depends on your luck. Sometimes, they let things pass (for example, the dried squid that can stink the whole room). Sometimes they don't (like our keropok, which they allowed entry 2 years ago).

Anyway, we were greeted by my Uncle and my cousin at the Arrival hall. My dad has not met my Uncle since forever. I have never seen him hug anybody like he did with my Uncle. Unfortch, me being the cameraman, didn't think about snapping photos of the events that were unfolded at the airport. Instead, 2 of my cameras sat nicely in my bag. From then onwards, I had both cameras in my hands 24/7, ready to snap any photos or videos. LOLOLOL!

We then head over to his place which was at Elizabeth, a 30 minute or so drive from the Airport. But before that, my uncle decided to make a detour to the butcher shop to buy meat for the BBQ later.




When we arrived at my uncle's place, we were greeted with my other cousins, and my Aunt. Had a light meal before heading out to Elizabeth Mall! The place is so huge, I didn't know where to start first. With only 2 hours, I decided to narrow down my shopping spree to the Target Store! OMG! I missed that place so much! Shoes of various patterns and sizes were fully stocked. Unlike in Perth, where there were not that many varieties available, the ones in Adelaide are. However, because the in thing in fashion right now are ridiculously high heels, I didn't buy any! The only one that I was interested in, were lined with pig skin. :( Felt like crying buckets. As for clothes, not many caught my attention. Actually, none caught my attention. I had to survey the entire shop a million times before I settled for something. Not the same Target store I used to patronize. I bought 2 pyjamas, and a skirt. And I also got myself 2 pair of jeans and a blouse.

Surviving with only an hour of sleep (maybe less, it was uncomfortable to sleep on the plane), my whole family just fell onto bed and went to sleep. Woke up in time for dinner.

And hence concluded our first day in Adelaide.

Later that night, we all had trouble sleeping, and waking up. Took us 2 days to adjust our body to the local time.

Check back my blog for Day 2 in Adelaide!