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I share all my sporadic and toilet thoughts in here, because I am random like that.
Australia Part II: Lacking in subtlety, aren’t we?
The most enjoyable part of the trip is … having room mates.
Contrary to the usual quietness of my own room at home, sharing a room with D and G meant that the room was filled with a myriad of various noises comprising loud music, the occasional exclamation and squealing and of course – lots of conversation. (Which I really missed ever since I got home.)
Unfortunately, there is one minor downside of having both genders living in the same room.
If you guys have been following my Twitter updates while I was away in Australia, you may have remembered one particular post:
The only guy’s complaining about us girls hanging washed undies around the room. We girls call it ‘The United Nations’. (7:13 PM May 22nd from txt.)
Well, if you hadn’t guessed correctly, it is …
… hanging washed underwear out to dry.
The following comic strip (hastily drawn in the dead of the night at 2.00 A.M. – albeit one of my best works yet) sums up all our troubles.
(Click for the enlarged version.)
Basically, we were highly restricted in where we could hang our … err … dirty laundry, despite the vastness of the house. However, overlooking all the trouble we had to go through just to dry our … err … undergarments, the whole situation was actually pretty hilarious.
P/S: Pardon the sudden influx of toilet humour in my recent entries! Heh.
Australia Part I: Why we make excellent psychos.
Oh hello, this is part one of the series of entries pertaining to the 2-week long vacation to Perth. Today’s entry will be purely text, but photos and illustrations will soon follow. So, stay tuned.
When it comes to the art of psyching people, no one can do it better than the three of us – G, D and yours’ truly.
Although I daresay that I am still the champion. Why? Read on.
Of course, I am not going to start the entry by bragging about how excellent I am in psyching people. Since the trip involved three individuals – it’s best if I started off talking about us collectively, and how our attempts at psyching people ended up saving us from the multiple cock-ups we faced during the trip.
The biggest issue that cropped up while in Perth? Not being able to drive.
Our original plan was to rent a car – with D and G rotating shifts as the drivers with yours’ truly as the navigator. (Because I am excellent at reading maps, with a keen sense of direction … or so I claim, affirmed by D. While I can’t drive to save my life.)
Readers might remember that we weren’t staying alone – but under the wing of a host family, which comprised G’s relatives. (Although one particular woman, whom we affectionately referred to as ‘Auntie’, called most of the shots there.)
Somehow, ‘Auntie’ discovered our plans to drive and phoned G’s mother, who in turn phoned G to deliver an earful. To cut a long story short, we weren’t allowed to drive – which I found absolutely absurd because nothing is nearby in Australia and we really needed a car to get around. (The rail/bus network linking Perth to the suburbs was just absolutely crap.)
The following day, we had to again – contend with another earful. This time, from ‘Auntie’ who delivered a loooong lecture of “Why it is so dangerous to drive in Australia” during the drive from our place all the way to Perth City (which lasted a grand total of 30 minutes – what a feat!) while we sat in stony silence.
It was during this time where the psyching took place.
‘Auntie’ must have realized our annoyance at the recent happenings. (It was actually pretty darn obvious – considering how the three of us basically refused to talk to her throughout the entire car ride, while I could practically see the negative vibes emanating from D who was in the front seat.) As a result, she later offered to drive us everywhere, knowing how we were stuck in a rut considering the less than developed transport network.
Of course, we eagerly accepted the offer – and promised ourselves that we’d give her a bigger ang bao (red packet) to thank her at the end of the trip.
Attempt at psyching … successful!
For my dear readers who’d like to know what the number one danger of Australian roads is, it’s … kangaroos. Unlike us intelligent human beings, kangaroos do not know how to look left and right before crossing the bloody roads. As such, more than 100 kangaroos get struck by cars across Australia every single day, especially before sunrise and after sunset.
Additionally, you can’t swerve to avoid the kangaroos – because the roads are elevated from the rest of the surroundings. As such, it is either to knock down the kangaroo (which will usually at most, leave some damages to your car but leave you unharmed) or swerve (which will usually lead to your car overturning and your potential death while the silly, reckless kangaroo gets away scot-free). Your call.
I shall now reserve the last bit of this entry to describe why I am still the champion of psyching.
This took place in a souvenir shop. (Warning: If you’re in the midst of the meal, or if you’re about to take a meal, or if you’ve just finished a heavy meal – I’d suggest not to continue.)
Me: I’m going to fart.
(G immediately backs away.)
G: Um, okay.A few seconds later …
G: Okay, Bren. I think I just smelled your fart.
I found it pretty funny because in reality, I hadn’t released any gas bomb. I was as usual, trying to mess around with people’s minds. (Hehehe. Sorry, G!)
First place still goes to me! *Puts on crown.*
Three days, two nights at Pulau Sibu
So, I’m finally back – albeit a much darker version of my former self.
We’ve had bright sunshine, sand and sea, as well as loads of strong winds and sea breezes over the past three days at Pulau Sibu. The water was mostly turquoise-green, whereas it was completely clear and blue at one of the smaller islands (Pulau Kukus) that we were brought to.
I’m going to launch into a long grandmother’s story about the trip itself – so feel free to filter out whichever parts you’re more interested in reading. Alternatively, you can let the photos do the talking.
10 simple facts about the Pulau Sibu Trip
1) Five people were stung by jellyfish during snorkeling. (No, I wasn’t one of them – wasn’t snorkeling either because I can’t swim to save my life.)
At the beach near Sea Gypsy Resort.
2) We went to a total of four beaches – scattered around various parts of the island. Three with reasonably clear water, and one with clear blue water which I couldn’t bear to leave. Oh, and one of them beaches wasn’t the usual sandy ones we have – instead, there was smooth marble and limestones in various shapes and forms making up the shoreline.)
3) While all my friends have received plentiful of sandfly bites, I’ve received less than five – all thanks to the extremely effective insecticide brought by a friend. (Although it boggles the mind why THAT friend was the worst hit among all of us when it came to insect bites.)
4) We’ve eaten enough crabs, prawns, sotongs (cuttlefish) and fish to last us a lifetime.
5) All of us agreed unanimously that we hated the toilets at the resort.
There were four toilets/bathrooms that had to be shared among all the rooms on the ground floor – and they were often sandy, smelly, dark, brimming with dirty footprints and mosquitoes.
Plus, there was always some joker who would blatantly refuse to flush the damn toilet. Grr.
6) Four of us are horrendously sunburnt now – and I happen to be one of them. (Around the shoulders and the back of my neck – ooooh, ouch.)
7) I’ve been on enough boat rides to last me a lifetime either – with me tying on my lifejacket as tightly as I can, and clinging on to the side (or any available handlebars) on the boat with my dear life because … I can’t swim, remember?
8) Watching the tides going up and down proved to be an extremely interesting experience.
When we first reached the resort – it was high tide to the point that the disembarking area of the jetty was flooded, so everyone had to walk in the water.
However, at 6 in the morning, the sea had gone all the way out that even the jetty was moored in the middle of nowhere with nothing but sand all around it.
And take note – the jetty was a considerable distance away from the shoreline! (About 200m.)
9) I held a live fish for the first time during fishing – it was wet and slimy, and the scales were falling off all over my hands. Was pretty much amused at how the fish was still its usual silvery grey colour when it was first caught while it loses all its colouring (through the shedding of its scales, perhaps?) once it dies to an extent that it becomes transparent, revealing all its insides.
Our resort’s sign at the jetty.
10) The resort we stayed at was Sibu Coconut Village Resort.
A pretty run-down place with dark and musty rooms, and inconsistent bedsheet colours. Basically, don’t expect any form of cleanliness when you reside here. Also, the power generators went down three times.
Unfortunately, this was already one of the better resorts they have on the island and we didn’t spend that much time within the resort premises anyway.
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