Return to Pangkor Laut Resort

I decided to make a return trip to Pangkor Laut Resort and accordingly booked a Garden Villa in early August for last weekend, taking advantage of the public holiday on Friday. We had to make the trip by bus this time and I purchased a one-way Transnasional Lumut-bound ticket scheduled to depart Hentian Duta at 09:00 (so happy there are still buses departing from Hentian Duta as I was from micasa; this means I don’t have to make the trip to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan. Anyway, the Transnasional bus we were on orginated from TBS).

Friday, 22 September 2017

We arrived at Hentian Duta at 08:40 and settled down to wait in the boarding area. It was my first time there (the only other time I rode a bus heading north, I departed from Pudu) so I spent some time observing things. 09:00 came and went and still there was no announcement about our bus. I finally went to ask the chap manning the counter and making the announcement for Transnasional and was told there was a technical problem with our bus and it would be delayed. We ended waiting until after 11:15 when the bus finally pulled up and only left at 11:30.

I only found out about Jambatan Sultan Yusof that links Teluk Intan and Sitiawan which has been closed since 12 August 2017 just before boarding the bus. This of course means further delays and after a bottleneck after Slim River, we finally reached Teluk Intan at 13:30 and after a brief stop at Seri Manjung, reached Lumut at 15:30. I had planned to arrive 3 hours earlier so that we could take the 13:00 boat but having missed that and the 15:00 boat, we had to take the 16:30 boat.

We bought Arwana bus tickets for the journey back to KL before exploring our options. A cabbie approached us and quoted RM25. Well, good news that Uber is already operating there and we got our ride for a fraction of what the cabbie wanted. We arrived at the Pangkor Laut office at Pangkor Marina before 16:00 and after refreshing ourselves with cold towel and a glass of cold drink, I requested for a late lunch upon arrival at the resort. At first the staff was being difficult, informing me lunch was until 16:30 so I asked if she could phone the resort ahead to inform. I still insisted on my lunch and mentioned that I managed to get a late one too when I arrived at Tanjong Jara back in February. Then I talked to another staff and she said she would do her best.

As we still had to wait for the boat departure, I decided to go and perform prayers so that I didn’t have to perform prayers only after my late lunch. There’s a prayer room at the complex opposite the office, within the ticketing area.

We boarded the boat just before 16:30 and arrived at the resort jetty 20 minutes later. Another cold towel and drink awaited us and after checking with one of the staff, we made our way to Royal Bay Beach Club. I had the same dishes I had previously: tom yam soup and fried noodles. We left at almost 18:00 and returned to the reception. After collecting our room key and making dinner reservations for the two evenings, we went to our room. Our room this time was nearer to the reception and Feast Village.

We left for dinner at Feast Village 20:40 and had to wait a while to be seated. I noticed there were a lot more families at the resort and also groups of families and friends. Unfortunately, a few of the appetisers and mains had finished so we had to make do with different order. I finally settled on tenderloin steak but it arrived quite a while after I finished my appetiser and I could hardly look at it. I was just too sleepy by then and could only manage 3/4^th of one of the two pieces of steak. It was another wait for dessert and it was past 22:30 when we finally left.

Saturday, 23 September 2017

We went for a morning walk after prayers and made our way to Feast Village at 07:40 (breakfast is served from 07:30, a bit late in my opinion). I was surprised to find the staff still setting up the place with some tables with missing chairs and napkins. I didn’t eat all that much but enjoyed what I took. We wanted to do taichi (scheduled for 09:30, yoga is scheduled at 08:30 but we didn’t think we’d manage to finish our breakfast and trek over to Spa Village in time for it) but I was later told that there was no taichi session for the next few days. So we returned back to the room (I wasn’t going to jungle trek, having done it previously) and rested. I had borrowed a book from the library and set about reading it.

We left for lunch at Chapman’s Bar and got a ride from Manuel, the resort assistant manager. I was disappointed to find a buffet lunch spread as I had planned to order from the menu and was further disappointed by the buffet offering. Suffice to say that I wasn’t impressed at all. We went to the beach after lunch but didn’t stay long as it was so hot even under the shade as there was hardly any wind. We returned to the room and rested. I managed to finish off the book I borrowed from the resort library.

We left for dinner at 19:30 and walked to Uncle Lim’s Restaurant. Again, we had to wait a while for our food and even after they cleared our mains, our dessert took way too long to arrive. The plate containing the mango pudding was cold to the touch meaning it was already chilled and surely that had been done way before i.e., pre-prepared? The ice cream, meanwhile, was already starting to melt. Why??? I expected better, really. Now I know why we forgot all about dessert on our last visit: it took just way too long to arrive.

After dinner, we walked to the TV Room and I watched Love Story. Can you believe that the story is already 47 years old?!

Sunday, 24 September 2017

An early start today. We left for breakfast at 07:35 and left our room key at the reception before having breakfast. Again, I didn’t eat as much as I thought I would. We left at 08:30 and after a visit to the bathroom, headed for the jetty. We left at 08:45 and reached mainland at 09:00. We had to wait a bit for the Uber driver – maybe because it was a Sunday – and reached the bus station at 09:45. Our Arwana bus left on time and we reached Hentian Duta at 14:10.

I’m not sure if there’ll be another visit, having been there twice.

12 Hours In Kota Bharu

It’s been a while since my last trip to Kota Bharu. Firefly seems to have stopped offering free seats or low fares so I had to decide on an alternative. Malindo keeps rescheduling its flight times so that was out. Like it or not, I was stuck with AirAsia. And while I want to leave early (because I planned to return on the same day), 0630 and 0735 are too early to depart from KLIA2 (I have to leave the city at least two hours before for the hour-long journey). So I mulled about it, checked the train services (this was when I found out there’s no more overnight train service from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Bharu; you need to take it from Gemas and it takes a long time before you arrive too!) and finally checked the bus times. I then decided to take a night bus and proceeded to buy the ticket online before buying an AirAsia ticket for the journey back.

On Friday, 08082017, I left micasa and went to MadValley to board the Komuter train to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan. My Transnasional bus left on time (was pleasantly surprised at this) and I settled down for a long evening ahead. I was prepared with my pashmina, socks and eye mask but sleep was still elusive.

I peeked out at some point and it didn’t look like we were on the highway. We stopped for a half-hour ‘meal break’ at 02:00 and I remembered thinking, ‘Meal break? At this hour?’. It was a stall (warung) in what looked like the middle of nowhere. What a miserable wretched godforsaken place! I went to check out the women’s prayer room and I was so disgusted at the smell and condition of it – it was dusty and not at all a place you want to perform prayers in! So glad I had performed prayers back at micasa.

We resumed our journey and sleep continued to evade me. I had my eye mask on and closed my eyes but I was just pretending to be asleep. When I finally pulled off my eye mask in exasperation, I found we were already in KB. I was earlier told by a colleague that the coaches usually terminate at Tesco so I was very happy when I found that the bus stopped at the bus station in the city instead. Alhamdulillah!

The azan was in the air when we disembarked and I made my way to the mosque by Siti Khadijah Market to perform prayers. I rested a bit there too and only left after 08:30 after dhuha prayers. I walked to the market, went up to the food court and walked around. I didn’t find anything that caught my fancy so I left and walked to Mydin. Mydin opened early so I went in to buy water and rested outside, reading and eating my sandwich.

I left and went to Mr DIY (heh) and then went back to the bus station to ask for the airport bus schedule. Then only did I set off for the gold shops. I wasn’t successful at first and was only successful when I crossed over to the shops on the other side of the market (near to the palace) but there were more closed shops in that row of shops. For reference, gold price is RM215/gram in KL and RM175 in KB. After that, I ventured into the market and bought some pelikat and batik sarong at a stall. I told the salesgirl that I was running low on cash and she said they accepted debit and credit cards now! That’s good news but bad news if I didn’t want to shop (I did manage to fight my temptation. Also the bag I brought was starting to fill up).

I had lunch at one stall at the newly covered road by the market; it was the same stall I had my meal before and I liked the taste. I was not disappointed this time. Had to ask if nasi air and nasi sup are the same thing, I was told no, so I decided to have what I had before, i.e. nasi air and warm lay chee kang drink. My meal only cost me RM7 in total. Mind you, nasi air at the foodcourt in the market itself cost RM7 and that’s before any drinks.

After lunch, I walked to the bus station, stopping en route at Bata to buy three pairs of sandals which are no longer available in KL. I had to wait for the bus but the alternative was to return to the market and spend and while that wasn’t bad, the heat and humidity in there was.

The bus came and I got on into the air-conditioned relief. The fare remained at RM1.80 as it was on my previous visit. I was sitting down when I saw the text from AirAsia informing that my flight had been retimed from 1730 to 1820. Bloody hell!

It was blisteringly hot when I disembarked near the airport. There were a lot of people at the airport, presumably waiting for those returning Haj pilgrims. I walked up to another entrance and once inside, went to find the prayer room (it’s upstairs, next to KFC). After prayers, I decided to go into the boarding area as there didn’t seem to be many seats in the arrival area. After clearing security, I sat down to wait, even dozing off at one point.

A few flights were retimed and one Malindo flight was even cancelled. It got me wondering how bad the weather in KL must be for the flights from KL to all be delayed. Mine only landed at 1805 and while we boarded quickly enough, we only took off at 1845. If there was any bad weather, we didn’t experience it in any turbulence so Alhamdulillah for that.

We landed and I quickly made my way to the washroom before heading to the nearby prayer room. It was my first time ever at KLIA2 but I’ve heard of how far one needed to walk in there. I trekked for 1.3 km from my seat in the plane to the bus. I had planned to buy a ticket for the 2030 bus but was told at the counter that the first available bus was at 2050, the earlier ones being full. The ticket cost RM12 and even though she said my bus was at 2050, I still hurried to the bus station and was glad I did when I managed to board the 2030 bus as planned and hoped. Alhamdulillah!

We arrived in KL early enough but got caught in the nightmare that was Brickfields. Selfish inconsiderate thoughtless drivers leaving their vehicles haphazardly parked. In the end, we limped into KL Sentral at 2130. I was back in micasa just after 2200, knackered but overall pleased with the end result. Alhamdulillah.

No More Words (Enough Is Enough)

I think it’s probably time for us to part ways. We no longer have the same interests and haven’t been on the same page for some time now.

I’m not the type to sit back and bite my tongue every time something wrong happens. I need to voice out my dissatisfaction and unhappiness.

I’ve given way too many allowances to you and yet every time you come around and hurt me all over again.

I’ve defended you and endured crap. Teases, jeers, mockery, sarcasm. I had persevered this far but there’s got to be a final straw.

I’ve invested so much in you: time, energy, effort, passion. I’ve defended you many times and you don’t care, don’t even know it, what more appreciate it.

Not to mention all those money I spent on you. So enough is enough is enough surely.

This just can’t go on anymore. I can’t and refuse to be taken for a ride time and again.

You keep making promises, you keep saying things, but you are never good at keeping your word.

I hate you for making me care for you when you don’t even care for me. You don’t give a damn. You can’t be bothered. You don’t even try!

All the promises made, all the pledges given, all the nice words said meant to comfort, when all along you’re just playing with my feelings!

You can’t say that I haven’t been trying my best. Sometimes I feel as if my effort has all been for naught. Unappreciated, unrecognised.

You take me for granted and treat me like a fool. Anyone deserves better than this!

Stop promising things, stop pledging, stop playing with my feelings, just stop. You say all these but your actions don’t commensurate at all.

You say one thing but it’s not matched with your pitiful effort. You make me hope and it’s the hope that kills me.

Sometimes I feel like you just don’t care. You’re cruel and unfeeling. You’re indifferent to my feelings and needs. You hurt me and you make me cry.

I don’t care to be hurt again. I don’t want to hope in vain again. Because I’ll just end up disappointed and gutted at the end. Heartbroken and hurt.

You are just stringing me along. You hope I’ll turn a blind eye and ignore your shortcomings. You use me, manipulate me.

Well, I’ve had enough. Enough of your uncaring, unfeeling, indifferent ways. I keep giving you chance after chance but I needn’t have bothered.

I probably should have done this a long time ago before you hurt me as deep as you have. I should do it now before you hurt me even further.

I was blind to your faults, I kept excusing your indifference, I kept fooling myself. Well, no more!

Goodbye, Arsenal. You’ve hurt me enough.

I’m however prepared to give you another chance if you promise to turn over a new leaf for good and stick to it.

No more hurting me, no more disappointment, no more heartache, no more pain. Because I’ve had enough of those.

No more lies, no more empty promises, no more pledges. No more!

To be honest, I’m not sure if you deserve another chance from me when you’ve hurt me so bad, when you keep disappointing me, when you keep letting me down, when you keep breaking your promises.

You’ve hurt me enough, Arsenal. You should be ashamed of your sorry self.

When All Is Said And Done

I’ve bared my soul to you, I’ve been honest, I’ve told you what I’m looking for in a potential life partner, what my expectations are. I don’t think I’m unreasonable in my expectations. It’s not as if I demand a Porsche as a wedding gift (I won’t say no to a Hermès Kelly 32 though), not at all. You know all this and yet you still hurt me big time.

You lied to me, you led me to think you were still struggling financially when you’d been secretly spending your money on something else. And even when you are broke, you still spend on it at the expense of food. You broke my heart into a million pieces. I told you before that I didn’t know how or what I feel towards you but I suppose in my own twisted confused way, I must have cared for you because why then does it hurt so much and so deep? Why, what I have done to deserve this, Oh Allah? I can’t be that bad, can I, to deserve a man who can’t lead me. It’s a poor unfortunate woman who wrongly chose a life partner and I don’t want that to be me, nauzubillah. Love, affection, care are not enough for me. I don’t want to live a secular, liberal, hedonistic, debauched life. You already know all this so why do you still want to pursue me if you can’t and may not change?

I’m disappointed, I felt let down, I’m gutted, heartbroken. I couldn’t sleep after the discovery and have lost my appetite too. Imagine me, having no appetite (it’s not because I’m a foodie or love to eat, just that I have a good appetite despite what everyone else thinks).

You’ve hurt me, you’ve lied to me, you can’t promise me you will change and repent. I deserve better, no, scratch that, I deserve the best, for all this long wait and because everyone deserves the best (people, don’t even settle for second best, ever) and if you continue on as before despite this last chance I’m giving you, then you’re simply just not good enough for me. But it’s better for me to know it all now rather than later and I thank Allah for that. I already told you at the start that it’s OK if I don’t get married. I’m already redha with it. If I were to leave this bachelorhood, it must be for someone worthy of my love, someone who can be worthy of me and someone I can be worthy of. Otherwise, it’s all for the best because Allah knows what’s best for us all. I wish you had been truthful to me from the start and not only now when I found out by snooping around. Yes, it sounds ugly and it is ugly but Allah is Most Powerful and He meant me to find out the way I did. 

Love shouldn’t be about blackmails so I’m not going to issue you with ultimatums saying this and demanding that, that if you love me like you claim you do that you must stop doing what I hate. After all, if you do love yourself and Allah, you would have done it already. Still, I’m prepared to give this last chance saloon. It doesn’t mean we’ll end up being married. It just means I’m willing to give you another chance to kick off your bad habit and to start being friends all over again. Yes, we have to start all over again because what good is a friendship if it’s based on lies? If you can’t, then we might as well stop seeing each other because I don’t want to waste any more time in a venture that will prove fruitless. I’ll be your friend, nothing more, nothing less. If something comes out of it later, then fine. If not, it means there’s no future for us. Now that’s the ultimatum in this last chance saloon. I will choose Allah over any man, and religion over worldly love. I told you I don’t care about what you did in your previous life before we met because, well, that’s all in the past. I just don’t understand why you have to hurt me when you already know what kind of man I want.

If you can’t be that man for men, if you can’t be strong enough to want to change and be strong enough to be my man, we’ll just remain as friends. I won’t abandon you but at the same time I won’t be bothered if you can’t be bothered to change. A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down and I hope that I’m at least a good true friend who will stop you if you’re going down the wrong way. I’m not special and I’m not strong enough to think I can change anyone. A person can only change if s/he wants to change her/himself. I do wish I have this ability to make a difference in someone’s life but it looks like despite all this time, I’ve not made a dent in your life.   

Ambassador

I seem to be finding inspiration from the IG of Chef Wan of late and this post is no exception. Recently, he responded to a post by Aliff Syukri (I don’t know this Aliff at all and I’m not interested in knowing him as I’m indifferent to local ‘celebrities’) who was in Switzerland with his family. The latter stated that he and his family had to eat by the roadside after being denied entry to eat home-cooked food at a restaurant. He reasoned that it was difficult to get halal food abroad and hence why they brought along home-cooked food.

My reaction was like duh, what did you expect? Even in Malaysia, restaurant owners won’t be happy if you bring outside food into their eateries. They don’t like it for a number of possible reasons: because they want to you to order their food, they don’t want to clean up your mess after you, they don’t want the risk of whatever you bring possibly causing discomfort to other customers. Maybe other customers would even prefer the look of your ‘outside food’ to the restaurant and they ask for the same from the restaurant and of course the restaurant wouldn’t be able to satisfy their request. Whatever the reasons, almost all restaurants have this policy of not allowing outside food to be brought in and regardless of whether we agree with the policy or not, we have to accept that the restaurant has the right to turn you away if you do so. So surely you shouldn’t be surprised if a restaurant abroad does the same too.

As for the excuse of difficulty in accessing halal food, well, I’m sorry that I don’t think it’s a valid excuse. Please don’t use religion or your observance of it as an excuse to justify your behaviour. Islam is never meant to burden its followers. There are other halal food options available (even though they don’t come with halal certification): you can opt for seafood, sandwiches with halal ingredients, salad, potatoes, sushi (depending where you are in the world but most cities offer these anyway) or even vegetarian. And Muslims are a large minority in Europe. You won’t have a problem finding Muslims in Switzerland! So don’t give that excuse of difficulty in obtaining halal food in Europe. It would be better if you told the truth that you were trying to be economical. I myself don’t stop to eat at restaurants as I’m usually too much in a hurry. I’d rather buy some buns or pizza slices and have them on the train or something. I also pack some cereal bars too as snack. Nothing wrong at all with either being economical or bringing your own food just as long as you know where and when you can eat your food. Money can buy a lot of things but not class.

And what’s with the idea of eating by the roadside and sharing it on your IG? Was that to draw sympathy or attract more followers? Or was it to get your followers to praise you for your humility or humbleness or nobility? Also, there are so many parks in Europe; all you have to do is find one and have a picnic in there.

I’m sure we’ve had our fair share of encounters with the Chinese tourists. I’m talking about those Chinese tourists who cut into queues, who go somewhere and act all kiasu and are oblivious to other visitors, who act like they’re the only ones who matter at any attractions sites, who pile up their plates at buffet tables... in short, those tourists who give Chinese tourists such a bad rep that they repel and disgust the locals and even the tour guides. Whenever I come across them, I get uncomfortable and I can’t help wondering if that is how they behave back home too. So, do we want to also give a similar bad rep to ourselves and our country by behaving in ways that may cause discomfort, disgust or disturbance among the locals? Do we want them to wonder if it’s normal for people to eat by the roadside here too? Do we want the locals to immediately dismiss us by lumping us in some category (‘oh typical Malaysians!’ ‘Asians, what do you expect?’)? I don’t think so either. Oh, I know there are people who would claim that they’re being true to themselves and they don’t care what others think of them but, please, do have some pride.

We are like ambassadors of our country when we travel abroad. As such, we should strive to maintain the good name of our country by behaving accordingly (even if the said name has been sullied by those in power who should know better, do we still make things worse with our thoughtless behaviour?). Is it so difficult to uphold the good name of the country and project a good image of oneself?

And while we’re on this topic, what is it about the Malaysian lazy attitude? I’d touched on this only last year. We’re inconsiderate and we don’t care if we sit down too long at the restaurant - never mind that we have finished eating – and obliviously deprive others from using the table. We claim to be well-travelled but we fail to observe how other societies behave, their hygienic and tidy ways, how they treat and respect everyone else, animals and the environment. We are just too self-absorbed, selfish, inconsiderate, narcissistic, arrogant, blind and uncaring. Maybe we’re not much different from most mainland Chinese tourists then. We have the money to travel to new places, to learn and observe from the locals but money can’t buy us awareness, wisdom and, as mentioned above, class.

I’ll leave you with these respective quotes by William G. Taylor and Henry Fielding: ‘Travellers are just commuters with a wider perspective’ and ‘I describe not men, but manners; not an individual, but a species.’ I’m not sure if we Malaysians can say we have a wide perspective nor can I say if we can be proud of ourselves as a species.

Earth Overshoot Day

The Earth Overshoot Day, the day when humans’ annual demand on natural resources exceeds what our planet can regenerate or reproduce in one year, fell on 2 August this year. Yes, we had managed to use a year’s worth of resources injust seven months. This means we have used and consumed more trees, fish and water than can be regenerated over the entire year and emitted more carbon than what the forests and oceans are able to absorb.

The Global Footprint Network calculates each year’s Overshoot Day and according to the calculations, we’re using the resources of 1.7 planets every year. The equation has four main factors: how much we consume; how efficiently products are made; how many of us there are; and how much nature’s ecosystem is able to produce. The Overshoot Day and how many earths we need differ among countries as the pictures below show.

When will we ever wake up and acknowledge that global warming is real? When will we realise that our greed, insatiable appetite and unthinking ways are putting constraints on the environment? We are using more ecological resources than nature can possibly regenerate and this is putting the Earth on an unsustainable trajectory. We are demanding more from the Earth than it can produce. You can track what impact your own actions have on the world’s natural resources here.

  

I was at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel prayer room just last Saturday. As my usual practice, I went to the bathroom first before performing part of ablutions at the bathroom (the bathroom tap dispenses water automatically so I could control how much water I should use and not get my clothes wet as I’d be prone to do if performing ablutions at the prayer room. Of course I still had to wash my feet in the prayer room) before heading to the prayer room. There were two ladies who were there ahead of me and they took so long to perform ablutions that I had finished two sunat prayers and started on my Zuhor prayers before they were done with their ablutions. The taps were on full blast and I couldn’t help wondering at the gallons of water wasted and how they managed to keep their clothes dry. Was it necessary to waste so much water (and mind you, that was no isolated event)? In Mecca and Medinah, pilgrims are able to perform ablutions using only a small bottle of water so why do we use so much water here? Similarly, why do we use so much water to wash our cars and porch? Have we forgotten the drought days of El Niño when it got so bad that we had to live days where the tap water was switched off and only had hours to refill our containers and pails when the tap water was switched back on? It’s alarming how short our memories are!

It’s time we start changing our unsustainable ways of living. Educate our children and teach even our pets not to waste resources (I wince whenever I see video clips of cats playing with tap water). We are already living in deficit as it is. The world’s resource bank has gone into overdraft! 

Adek In Sydney 2017- Part II

Friday, 14 July 2017

We had decided to go to Parramatta today and left our room at almost 10:00. We walked up to Circular Quay (took us 45 minutes), bumping into fellow Gooners along the way. After consulting electronic board, we went to the designated wharf and waited. There was a bit of confusion as the boards first showed our ferry departing from right side and then showed it departing from the left side. We departed later than scheduled too. It took one hour and 23 minutes to reach Parramatta by ferry but at least you get to experience riding the ferry. Parramatta is the furthest stop inland that ferry can go.

At Parramatta, we waited for the Parramatta Shuttle Bus that takes you on a continuous loop around downtown. We got down near Parramatta Park and left not long after. We then took the shuttle bus on another loop before getting down near Centenary Square. To be honest, I found Parramatta a tad underwhelming. We then went to Westfield Parramatta as we wanted to find free wifi – the mall provided it, Alhamdulillah! – to check in for the flight back. We’d only arrived a couple of days earlier and would already be departing after the next couple of days. Well, I didn’t intend to stay too long in Sydney anyway. It has become more and more expensive over the years and I sadly only earn Malaysian Ringgit.

I then went to browse some stores to find some wipes that my sister asked me to and after a dozen stores and spending 10 minutes on average at the wipes aisle of those stores, I concluded that the particular brand that she wanted was no longer in production. I bought some crisps and then went to check out Target before leaving. We got the train back to Central within 3 minutes of its departure and it took only 26 minutes.

Today was my last fasting day so after prayers, we cooked dinner at the kitchen a floor up.

  

Saturday, 15 July 2017

I slept again after Suboh and got up after 08:00. We left for Paddy’s Market after breakfast but didn’t buy any souvenirs. We came back at almost noon and stayed in. I took advantage of this and made progress on my book. We left at 17:30 after having dinner and performing prayers and went to Central station. This time, there was a direct train to Olympic Park. Even better!

We headed directly for the stadium and entered (hardly any queue by the time we arrived). Our seats this time were at the fourth row from the boards that separated the pitch from the spectators. The crowds around us were more vocal too this evening and there were always a few individuals trying to get us to start chanting. So much so, one bloke in front of missed one of the goals (he was too busy looking back and rallying us). I also heard another chap a few rows behind saying that we all just wanted to watch the match.

This time, the rush back to the station wasn’t as bad as on Thursday and we managed to squeeze into the first train that arrived. There were some vocal Gooners in the carriage we entered and we all sang our way back to Central station. Now that was fun!

Sunday, 16 July 2017

I woke up early this morning after the post-Suboh kip to finish packing. We had a late breakfast and left at 09:45. We followed the same route back to the airport that we took on Wednesday in reverse and arrived at the airport almost an hour later. After dropping off our bags and getting our boarding passes, we cleared security and immigration. There’s no prayer room once you clear immigration so I performed prayers in the parents’ room before making my way to the gate.

We took off on time and landed at KLIA at 20:00. The bags came out well after we finished performing prayers and we took a Grab back to KL.

So that was my third trip to Sydney and sixth to Australia. I doubt if I’ll be back because there are many more places that I haven’t been to. Thanks anyway Sydney for all the memories.

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Just a bit on my Airbnb: from the airport, you can take a cab or Uber (AUD20-40 depending on traffic and terminal (departing from international terminal would cost more), or you can take the Airport train to Central. The Airport train costs AUD16.22 from the airport to Central with an Opal card as you have to pay the airport access fee of AUD13.80 so we chose to walk to Wolli Creek instead. The Airbnb is pretty near Central station, about 15 minutes’ walk away. You can also take a bus from Eddy Avenue Stand C, routes 338, 374, 376 and 391; get off at Flinders St near South Dowling, cross at the lights and walk three minutes downhill to the front door. We chose to walk.

We had to get the keys from a locked box at the unit next door and after opening the door, walk up the stairs to the first landing where the bathroom and TV room are. Our room is one of the two rooms just a few steps up the landing and it overlooks South Dowling St. There is another flight of stairs up to the host’s housemate’s room, a bathroom and kitchen and another room above the kitchen (accessed from the kitchen). The two other housemates couldn’t be friendlier.

My comments are that the room is slightly dusty (those with dust allergy should avoid it) and the dustbin in the kitchen just overflew, and the housemates were not diligent about keeping the kitchen counter and sink empty so a few times I washed up their glasses and crockery. I know I wasn’t paying to stay at a hotel (too dang expensive and even this Airbnb didn’t come cheap what with inflated Sydney prices) but I would have appreciated a cleaner and tidier kitchen. Not sure how frequent garbage collection is there or why no one bothered to take the trash out. Those are my main comments.