4 Consecutive Nights of Seated Sleep

With life's troubles pushing me to my limits, I booked my overnight train and bus tickets to Melbourne, Adelaide, and back to Sydney with frustrated clicks on 'buy tickets'.

It wasn't cheap, especially when I booked my ticket so close to my travel date (more like time as it was on the same day...). Expensive travel fares don't generally agree with me but this time I half-willingly forced it to. No matter how expensive it was, I was paying for a break, which I desperately needed. The Sydney air was stale. I needed to go somewhere fresh.

And so, with a small luggage as my companion, I left Sydney to Melbourne on Monday night, left Melbourne to Adelaide on Tuesday night, left Adelaide to Melbourne on Wednesday night, and from Melbourne back to Sydney on Thursday night.

Yes, it was a trip where I got to spend all the nights in a seat instead of my warm bed in Sydney. A new experience, I thought, though my real intention was actually to save on lodging by combining transportation and lodging together. I am a light-sleeper, so I thought I could take it.

As it turned out, it wasn't exactly comfortable or even healthy to have to sleep in a seat for four consecutive nights. Especially when you're walking around everywhere during the day. Though I am a light-sleeper, I only managed to sleep an average of 4-5 hours every night. And it wasn't 4-5 hours of quality deep sleep; it was sleep that was on and off, woken up every hour or so by the hardness of the seat or the stopping of the bus for a break.

Well, less about the complains and more about the things I did during the 4-night trip. Well, for one, I managed to visit my brother in Melbourne, who I had missed. It was only 2 months or so since we last met but it still felt great to see him again. I gained a lot of insight from his lifestyle, and he made me realise that I had under-appreciated my life in Sydney. In addition to my brother, I also met Zi Yan, who was settling down in Melbourne extremely well. His optimistic view of the future inspired me to try to do the same. I met Kevin (Fan) and his family in Adelaide, and they were extremely warm and welcoming. Besides visiting people, I also managed to breathe in the air of two similar yet different cities from Sydney, enjoying all the new sceneries and appreciating what the trip had to offer. I didn't spend a lot of money as I walked quite a bit and minimised my spendings on food as much as possible. In fact, my single largest transaction other than transportation for the whole trip was the $25 I lost in the Adelaide casino.

By the end of it all, I don't regret my compulsive decision; it served me well. I definitely feel more refreshed mentally despite my sick physical state (got a cold due to fatigue when I got back). I had a great time in Melbourne and Adelaide and the trip made me reflect on my life in Sydney and how much I had under-appreciated it. Refreshed, I seek to work hard for the remaining of the semester. Let's take the days as they come and utilise every one of them fully.

I owe it to myself. 

Surreptitious shot of two Indian passenges aboard the overnight train from Sydney to Melbourne

First Sight of Melbourne from Spencer Street

Walking through Melbourne City

Melbourne's extensive tram lines

Victoria Markets

University of Melbourne

Serenity of UniMelb during Easter Break

Exhibition Building and Melbourne Museum

Melbourne Exhibition Building, also where UniMelb students have all their exams!

World of Animals Section in Melbourne Museum

Carlton Park

Some church near Flinders Station

Asian grocery shopping; how much Asians love their pastes and sauces

Melbourne Central on a cloudy day

Eye-opening graffiti in Hosier Lane

Melbourne Buildings

Melbourne at dusk on a cloudy day

View of Kevin's house in Adelaide, night and morning

Glenelg beach, Adelaide

A photo with a bearded citizen of Adelaide

Kevin and his mum preparing dinner

Enjoying thunset in Kevin's backyard

Morning hour meetup with Han in Melbourne before he went for his Great Ocean Road tour

Sunrise in Melbourne

Lunch at a Malaysian restaurant with Zi Yan

Some LiGongDi-esque area in Docklands

Taking a photo in Lonsdale street before the tram comes

Melbourne Street Artists

Break dancing kid busker

In a tram to Southern Cross station experiencing my last sunset of the trip

Outing with IH Newcomers

The City of Sydney held a Malaysian exhibit 'The Story of Malaysia' to promote the Malaysian culture yesterday, and I decided to go to support my countrymen. Neil and a bunch of IH new residents came along with me [I think because they had nothing better to do...]. Though the exhibit was rather a disappointment as it was small and lacklustre, I thought we all enjoyed ourselves just fooling around. 

I borrowed Jun Ming's Sony NEX-5N with a manual Voigtlander 35mm to play around with for the outing. I loved the manual lens, so fast and so surprisingly easy to focus! It was a shame though, that the 5N had a crop sensor so the effective focal length was actually 52mm. These are the resulting photos. 

L: The Layout of Sydney City inside Customs House. R: Sydney tower!

Met some friends from Macquarie University

Getting bored with the exhibit

Congkak

The City of Sydney

Left to Right: Don, Yang, Motoya, James, Marvin, Jun, Neil

Public buses catered for sightseeing tourists

SSS Weekend Afternoon Sports

Beach Coastal Walk from Bondi to Coogee

It may be Good Friday today but unlike my usual disciplined self, I woke up extremely late -- perhaps that's why it's called 'good' Friday. After lunch, I decided to head to the Eastern beaches for the coastal walk with Han since there wasn't much to do on a public holiday that I didn't celebrate. 

The total distance of the coastal walk was around 6 kilometres. We started at Bondi beach, went by Bronte beach, and ended at Coogee beach. It was a cloudy day, so the temperature was around 22 degrees Celsius, just perfect for an autumn day. The walk itself wasn't exactly rigorous, and we got to enjoy the coastal scenery with wind blowing into our ears. I didn't grow up in cities with beaches, but I find it a rather common pass-time for Sydneysiders to hike around the beaches and enjoy the atmosphere. 

Enjoying It So Far

Despite feeling reluctant to come back to Sydney, I have had quite a lot of fun in the past three weeks -- more fun than I had anticipated. Seamlessly, I have adapted back to living like a young adult -- meeting friends, sports, internet usage, etc. Of course, there are definitely days when I miss my family or worry about my grandparents, but overall it hasn't been as bad as I anticipated.

I still live in International House, though this year's different from last year as I share a room with a fellow resident friend. So far, I have adapted well, as I get a bigger room and I like the new set up of the bed and table compared to last year's single room. My roommate hardly stays around during the day so I tend to get the room all for myself. I also like my room because most of my closer friends live close by. Every time I go for meals, I pass by their rooms and I like to knock on their doors to ask them to come along to the dining hall with me.

This week is the third week of school and as always in university, because everything moves in such a fast pace, I feel that I am already falling behind. With all the O-week distractions, I haven't been able to concentrate well and I find it hard to revise lectures efficiently. My absorption of material has been weak and sometimes I feel like I lost a couple of precious IQ points over my three months summer break doing almost absolutely nothing intellectual. But I'm sure it'd be fine soon enough as my mind assimilate to the studying routine.

During my summer break, I thought that like last semester I'd be working out every morning again with Bo An and Han, but we mutually gave up on that plan and went our own ways to gain fitness. I go to the gym now, at least twice per week, but with the hope of going thrice per week. The gym I go to is actually in a hospital and it costs only $5 per week. But because I tend to work out at night when the staff has long gone home, I have been surreptitiously 'borrowing' my friends' cards for entry. In addition to working out, I have also been trying to play badminton, soccer, and tennis weekly. I seek to gain 5kg by the end of the semester, through however means -- muscle mass or fat mass, it doesn't matter.

Haven't been doing much photography lately. Deep inside, I feel a little guilty. So much equipment, but such low utilisation. Definitely would like to start on something in the coming weeks. For me, the most challenging hurdle to a project is to find models willing to pose for me. Sigh, but honestly, I haven't even tried to ask people. I guess it's mainly my laziness to ask; I should definitely get on with a project and stop complaining.

Good news came last Friday that my application to be a student ambassador for the University was successful. I was happy, as that meant that I can quit my previous photography retail job for this new, refreshing, yet flexible job. I also get to move around more, as well as help prospective students who may need help. Definitely got to thank IH for endorsing me to represent the House to be an ambassador, and I look forward to experience the new job at the end of this week!

I guess that's all, for now.

Birthday Boy, Victor.

Being clumsy

Fist-bumps to the birthday boy

Food at Sydney's Mamak! Mee Goreng, Nasi Lemak, Maggi Goren, Roti Telur!

Shy Chinatown Outing

Angry Chinatown Outing

Chinatown

End of Summer Break, Yet Again

Sigh, what can I say? My summer break is over yet again, and just like the past 8 summer breaks prior to this year's , it went by after weeks of wastefulness.

But come on, a break is a break. And think about it, once I start working full-time, I wouldn't be getting any more 'Summer Breaks'. Might as well continue living the break as a break instead of trying to work and be exhausted by the end of it. This break, I appreciate that I had a couple of relaxing yet exciting travel trips and was able to experience Suzhou from a different perspective. I'm also appreciative of the stress-free lifestyle I was able to have. But perhaps most importantly, I truly treasure the time I spent with my family in China, and with my grandparents here in Malaysia.

Of course, part of me can't wait to go back and get on with the productive stage of life again. Active learning, studying, working, exercising. But the other part of me just can't afford to leave my two old and weak grandparents behind. I guess that's probably the major difference between my reluctance to end my summer break when I was younger and now. Back then, I didn't want to summer break to end because I didn't want to go to school and work hard. I wanted to stay at home, relax, have good food, enjoy myself, visit the cinema, play lots of games and read lots of book. I didn't want to work hard. Those were the naive days. But now I've grown to appreciate life as it should be -- work hard and enjoy the state and rewards of doing so -- yet I still don't want my summer to end, this time because of my ageing grandparents. Potential time spent with them are getting more and more precious as they age. Sooner or later, once they're gone -- touchwood -- the memories of the time spent with them will be luxurious and all I will have left of them. And I can't bear to leave Malaysia and end my time with them this round. But such is life, things have to go on, and I have to live my life. What will come, will come -- I have to go back to Sydney.

Looking on the optimistic side, I look forward to getting back to routine. Study hard, exercise well, and commit enthusiastically to my community. And of course, I look forward to International House's O-week where I will get to meet lots of new people, catch up with old friends, set new goals for myself, and ultimately, have fun. And I'm sure Time will pass faster than I can live it, and the next thing I know it, I'll be boarding a plane again, this time heading back here to Malaysia [it's looking like the end of June].

So with a resilient mood, Sydney here I come.