October 16th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
International Dining
27th September 2008, Saturday
It was just too bad that AirAsia decided to fly to Melbourne just a month after I have booked my flights. @#$%^&* Being a poor holiday maker, I took Jetstar via Singapore to Darwin then Melbourne. I took this opportunity to visit my dear friends in Singapore as well.
I chose to go during end September to coincide with Curly’s two weeks’ semester break. He is doing his phd in University of Melbourne. He generously offered his humble abode to a few of us who planned to visit Australia for a very long time. I, of course, would not let such an opportunity slipped by and thanked him for his kindness. It was just nice as spring is approaching. It would be delightful to take a whiff of the first flowers of spring.
The journey to Singapore was a smooth and comfortable one. We took the First Coach from One Utama. Every seat has its own personal tv. So, we get to choose whatever we want to watch throughout the journey. You need to request for ear phones from the bus driver if you want to catch a movie. The contact of First Coach is as follows. Thanks to ML for making arrangements and her kind effort. Kudos! You may also take First Coach from Bangsar.
First Coach
Lot C.02B, Concourse Level, IBM Tower, 8 First Avenue, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya.
03-7725 3311
When we arrived at Singapore, we were greeted by ML’s friends and were brought to his place to take shower and had dinner. We just hang about till we arrived at the airport for a flight to Melbourne via Darwin.
The girl at the Jetstar check-in counter was a bit clueless when we asked why is the arrival time at 4 pm when we were made understand that, we were supposed to reach Melbourne the next day at 1 pm. She weakly mumbled that we should follow the time in our itinerary instead and yet, she printed our tickets with time stamp 1600 for arrival. *Scratch head*
28th September 2008, Sunday
The flight was not so comfortable. As usual for a long haul flight, we couldn’t lay further down on the chair as space is restricted. For S$18, we get our comfort kit consisting of an air pillow for the neck, eye shades, ear plugs and a blanket. The in flight food is good though – I had the minced beef and potato. Since we had our flight tickets with prepaid food, we get to eat the hot meals for free.
But then, the air stewardesses or perhaps the people in JetStar are just simply clueless and asked me to pay instead. Bloody hell. I wonder why they don’t even have a proper system to identify clients who had prepaid vouchers in order to save us from embarrassment. I had to show her my boarding pass. It’s just too ridiculous. One piece of advice – it’s not worth it to have prepaid meals. I paid S$70 for in flight meals and the cost just not worth it. One meal is about AUD15 and sometimes, when we are bound for night flights, we don’t even have the appetite to have supper. I paid this time because Australia has very strict rules on perishable goods to be brought into the country.
The Smoking Lounge at Darwin Airport
After a bumpy five hours’ flight, we landed safely in Darwin, only to be disappointed when we were informed that our flight has been delayed for three hours. We wanted to just take a cab out of the airport to go sightseeing during the short period of time but the tourist counter was not manned properly. When we enquired about how far is the airport from the city so we can go to the nearest hot spot, we were given some vague instructions and the lady manning the counter told us to just ask the cab drivers while she packed off for the day. And it was only 6 am!
We ended stranded in the airport and were given AUD10 each as compensation for waiting. We got ourselves cups of coffee and some sandwiches.
Relaxing at the Waiting Lounge
There were many people who were stranded together with us, so you get to see all kinds of sleeping positions in the airport lounge! We joined others and lay on the sofa provided. The weather outside Darwin was too hot to bear so I decided to stay put in the air conditioned waiting room.
Flying over the plains of Australia
We finally reached Melbourne, an hour after the already delayed time (4 pm) at 5 pm! (This time, the JetStar air steward gave us each a chicken wrap sandwich without asking us to pay. ) The crisp cold air greeted us as we left the airport and the rest scurried to don on their jackets while we wait for a taxi. It felt like a much colder Genting Highlands. I like it! We got on a “maxi”, it’s a bigger taxi because we have so many luggage with us! Ryne was so sweet to fetch us at the airport to Curly’s place at Brunswick East.
The cab costs AUD55 for a 20 minutes ride. As we reached Curly’s nice little warm place, we were greeted with smell of nice chicken curry. Curly was nice enough to cook for a party of 7. We tucked in a hearty meal and huddled together for warmth. The scene looked somewhat like we were all refugees seeking asylum in a foreign land. *Lol* It was about 8 degrees that night when we went out to a nearby liquor shop to purchase some alcohol to warm the tummy. I told my friends that, I am going to blog about this. “First day in Melbourne, I wore a hooded jacket and went to a liquor shop. It was as if I were about to rob a liquor store.”
Why this post is called international dining? Well, I had breakfast at home, with mom making me some nice fried meehoon. Then we had nasi lemak on the highway to Singapore, followed by a Chinese dinner in Singapore. We had some soya milk before flying and the mocha soya from Mr Bean is super nice! Supper of beef and baked potatoes on the plane flying over the Indian Ocean to Darwin. Had breakfast at Darwin, then lunch in the plane crossing the plains of Australia from Darwin to Melbourne and finally, a nice chicken curry courtesy from Curly in Brunswick East, Victoria. How’s that for international dining?