Perth, Western Australia

... part 4.

So we land. And The Warden begins her analysis and voices her dissatisfaction with 'our' (our being a term loosely referring to the rest of the world, and not just the LimKlan in particular) understanding of the Australians Customs Department's requirements of declaring everything, including the dirt on your shoes (no kidding. seriously, if you have caked on mud on the soles of your shoes, you'd better declare it). So she goes on and on ... in particular about this brand of cough lollies that we get here in Malaysia - Hacks. (Thank Redd for starting the whole thing by handing it out to her in the first place LOL) So she raises her voice and talks over the crowd and doing my best to remain calm, I just took it as another one her quirky quirks. She IS a lovely person and a nice Aunty after all ... :)

Now the nice thing about the Perth International Airport is this - unlike Changi and LCCT in Malaysia, they don't have like a budget terminal to further reinforce that you're on a budget :) he he ... so we arrived the plush carpeting, disembarking on a real airplane walkway, into the main terminal, where again, I got flagged because of my Visa. And no, I didn't experience the horrible Immigration experience that everyone seemed to complain about. If anything, the Immigration Officers who initially took my passport and the gentleman who handled my case was more than polite and courteous, he made me feel at ease, seeing as how I was a little antsy that I'm being red-flagged in a foreign country. :) So thank you Immigration Australia! :) (passport image courtesy of Immigration Malaysia's website)

Then we proceeded to pick up our luggage, which was my biggest surprise for Australia - the baggage guys took the same time that KLIA / LCCT people take close to an hour!!! Holy Cow boys! What's going on! :) But we had a totally good time chatting and napping and chatting amongst the Aussies returning from various parts of Asia via Singapore. So we cleared Customs, or at least most of us did without much of a hiccup. Uncle Jeff kinda got caught up, for a 'random' bag inspection, but he insists it's because of his face ke apa ke ... and of course The Warden had her theories on that issue as well. Mostly uneventful all the way to City Stay Apartments, where we will spend a whole week at. It was a very, very comfortable stay in a self contained unit, with a complete kitchen and laundry facilities and heating and cooling, clean bathroom and comfortable beds. Although, I may be a little biased on the beds as I've been sleeping on a couch the past 2 months ... so anything not resembling a couch is heaven to me. :) ha ha ... we actually arrived at about 11:45pm at night and the place was deserted, I was however happy to note that we were located directly opposite a shopping mall. HA HA! :)

After we unloaded both bags and people into the apartments (we took 5 units with 4 people to a unit), and after consulting with the apartment manager (his name's Zaki or something like that - looks Malaysian, but didn't ask) we trekked about ... 5 blocks, to this great eatery called Fast Eddy's, a 24 hour old school diner. I loved their decor and their menu was definitely very, very creative, however, they didn't have a new one that I could bring back and frame up ... the waiter serving us ... was a little nervous I guess about such a big group (18 in all, Godpa and Godma wanted to zzz) and he kept breaking plates and glasses LOL ... but he got every single order correct! Amazing! :) Thumbs up to him for sure! They were a little pricey, but the helpings were generous, the atmosphere lovely and the company loving. It was indeed a perfect ending to a long, long day!!!

... to be continued.