the school trip

So he came back ok. He didn't lose his wallet, didn't need to pay for excess luggage or anything, he liked the trip and he like his new friends.

When they left for Singapore last Tuesday, it was on a high note. The Principal was on cloud 9, the school having just won the Dance World Cup in Paris. Did you read about that ? Sabah College came out champion. Find it here .

at KK airport

First thing they did upon arriving Singapore , before check-in to their rooms or anything, was to set out on the first trip - Night Safari. Pandai cikgunya kan...memanfaatkan masa.

And then for everyday during their stay, they visit  the twinning school -Juying Secondary, sit through their lessons and learn about their subjects  and syllabus. For each visiting student, Juying assigned one of their own as a host to socialise, entertain and exchange notes with. Adzim's counterpart, or 'buddy' as they term it is a Secondary 3 student, named Jasmin.

Jasmin is the red shirt guy, next to him (the one with big smile) is the buddy of Adzim's room mate (the serious guy).

So the buddy is the one who takes them around the school, showing them what and where and how.

The classroom is impressive. No battered or half broken wooden desks and chairs. Only good quality plastic furnitures.

And the school building has lifts.

They were put up at the school's hostel and Adzim said it's unlike the asrama back home, but rather like an apartment.

The hostel is named YoHa for Your Habitat.

When the school sessions over, they went out for trips, bringing  the buddies along, to places like the  Science Centre, Bird Park , and a river cruise off Clark Quay.

Science Centre

 bird park

the river cruise

On their last night, they performed a dance for the school.

My boy is at the back wearing yellow.

After 4 days, checking out from the school on Friday.

saying goodbye to singapore friends

They were not off to the airport yet. They had one more day before the flight home. So it was on  to another 'school trip'. The important trip. Why. THE UNIVERSAL STUDIO. You think the teachers will let slip this important piece of detail from the itinerary? Not a chance. Goodbye school, here comes fun.

He loved it. He went on all the rides we missed the first time. The crate adventure at Madagascar, the roller coaster ride- cyclone at Sci Fi City and  spent all his money on keychains and stuffs.

They were grouped in 4s and 5s and since they were more girls than boys, girls made up most of the group. He was stuck with 3 girls the entire time. But I don't think he mind. They had too much fun to care.

They finally checked in to a hotel past 9pm. Grand Sanda Hotel. I don't know where exactly is that. And stayed up all night going over the trip.

Next morning before airport they chanced one last walkabout at the Merlion Park.



THE END.

my mind is far away

I'm still here, I'm just drifting away in lazyland. But time to get up and pull the socks. The month is wrapping up, can you believe it, soon we are fasting.

But right now, I'm preoccupied with thoughts of my eldest son being away from us for the first time. He's now in Singapore on a school trip. He's gone for 5 days. I'm not worried, I'm sure he's ok and enjoying it. I'm anxious how he's coping, you know handling his own luggage and stuffs. All this while, he never lift a finger when we travel. I pack his clothes, I pick what he wears, everthing is laid down on the bed when he gets out of shower. I tell him when to take his vitamins/medicines. He does nothing. NOTHING.

He's bunking with a Form 4 student so I'm hoping he could learn a few tips from the older kid, although when I met that boy at the airport, he didn't look that much mature to me...cam sama ja nda berakal...semua mama yang tunjukkan, dimana scan beg pun nda tau....

Ini kali la...habislah migraine cikgu2 nya mengurus dorang ni..

I'm excited to hear everything about the trip when he gets back tomorrow night. Maybe I'll share with you.
In the mean time, I'm off to Labuan in a couple of hours with the rest of my kids for kenduri arwah.

See you in a bit.

Around the hotel and city sights

Lambat kan sambung cerita? Ya kemalasan sudah memblog ni. Ini last part untuk cerita Perth. Cerita makan lah. Yang sioknya di sini senang cari makanan. Makanan yang halal dan sedap. Lagi senang daripada di Singapore.
Berdekatan dengan apartment kami, 3 min walk, ada cafe Newroz Kebab.

Burgers and chips. Waktu baru sampai, belum ada apa2 mau di masak, sini la kami cari breakfast.
Dan di sebelah kebab ini, ada mini market yang menjual semua barangan makanan yang kering dan basah. Selain barangan runcit, ada makanan mentah , ikan dan daging dan semua buah2an dan sayur2an.

Tengok. Kalau mau masak rendang pun boleh. Pakai kelapa segar.

Setelah menstok barang keperluan dapur baru kami keluar ke bandar. Kalau kami tidak pergi tour, pergi Hillary Harbour, Fremantle tu semua, kami berlegar-legar sekitar Murray Street saja. Di situ ada satu restoran melayu, namanya Indah. Driver tour masa pergi Wildlife Park tu yang bagi tau. Aussie local pun suka pi situ. Oh..we LIKE. Yes, yes, yes. Kami telah order - sup tomyam, kue tiaw goreng, nasi goreng etc. Dan tidak mengecewakan langsung. Sedap sekali. Dan punya besar portion dia. Tapau, sambung makan di apartment.

Sudah jumpa ini restoran kami nda main lagi kebab-kebab.

Lepas tu, kami cuba lagi satu tempat makan lain. Sunday, restoran Indah ni tutup, dan masa tu kami baru balik dari Hillary Harbour, kelaparan, jumpa ni tempat di Street yang sama, cuma lain blok. Indonesia Indah. Motif? kenapa pakai nama sama? Anyway not bad. Masakan Indonesia. Tapi tiada goreng-goreng, cuma nasi dan lauk-pauk. Memang sedap. (sampai tak sempat ambil gambar).

Dan banyak lah sidewalk cafe di city tu yang best duduk2 (tanpa kepanasan) kalau malas jalan. Di Gelaware, nama satu cafe , dekat Murray Street, pot lepak kami  untuk pujuk anak kalau kepenatan duduk di bench main game sebab lama menunggu kami shopping :D. Hot chocolate and waffles dia, heaven.

Ok, ini gambar2 sekitar hotel kami. Kami tinggal di Mantra on Hay. Dulu nama dia, Saville Apartments. Dan sebelum tu, Holiday Inn. Selalu bertukar management. Sekarang di ambil alih oleh Mantra Groups.

 Ini gambar entrance hotel.

Dan ini lobby. Dia punya trademark, di business card dan backdrop lobby, kata-kata mantra - 'I will make...I will do..'

 Ini swimming pool tertutup (roofed) di tingkat 8.

Ini keadaan dalam apartment. Two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Kitchen stove, convection oven, microwave oven, toaster, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer. Yang tiada rice cooker saja. Terpaksa masak nasi pakai pot. Nasib baik mak mertua ada. Nda pandai aku masak nasi atas api. Mau control stove, lepas tu buka tutup periuk, uar lagi, etc.

Last before I pen-off, some photos of us around the city.

See ya!

The banks of Swan River

Perth city sits on the foreshores of Swan River. One of the many attractions is Swan Bell Tower situated at Barrack St Jetty overlooking the river and the entire city skyline.

Swan Bell Tower has one of the largest sets (there are 18 bells in the tower) of change ringing bells in the world. Some of these bells are historic ones from an old church in Trafalgar Square in London, that can be traced back to the 14th century. They were recast and donated to the States of Western Australia. They are rare in that they are one of the few sets of royal bells and are known to have rung as the explorer James Cook set sail on the voyage that founded Australia.

The fountain in front of the tower

Swan River is named after the famous black swans of the area.

The jetty area. You take the ferry here to Rottnest Island.

Along the river bank is the bike and footpaths, very nice for jogging, lazy strolling.

Or any other suitable exercise.

Across the road from the river bank is a big playing field.

 Where we like to spend a few hours before sunset to play boomerang and frisbee or just running around.

 The field is just 5 min walk from our hotel.

Ofcourse Azim's fav exercise is perfecting his breaking moves.

There is also a little playground at the corner of the field.

Funky Fremantle

This is another place that I wish I had more time exploring. Thrice we came here we've only reached the Markets (boohoo). Fremantle, or Freo, as its known by locals is a port city about 20 min drive from city centre. The Fremantle Market is a famous attraction. But there are also Fremantle Prison, Maritime Museum and other spots I have yet to set foot on. Future reminder lists.

We spent our Sunday here. Just outside the market entrance a performance of tricks and stunts was ongoing when we arrived. The boys were glued. 

He was quite impressive. That's a baseball bat he's juggling with  2 sticks. If he drops it (he didn't) it would certainly smash the guy's face. And some other stunts like juggling 3 dangerous items at once ,  a live chainsaw + a dagger + a blade. And then lying on a bed of nails. The kids stood transfixed and wouldn't move anywhere so we had to wait a good one hour before moving on.

There's a video my son took but I couldn't upload it.

Stopping for food at the cafe just next to the market.

 This is  a Lebanese cafe. The kebabs are very good and very huge portion. (the pic come out yellow, I've no idea what happened).

 She's real not a statue.

 Assortment of boomerangs and frisbees, the boys' favourite.

By 4pm we were back to the city because the sun set early here. Around 5 pm it gets dark.

Merry at Hillary

Hillary Harbour is a prime recreational destination for Perth locals and visitors. It's full of attractions, activities and shops and just a very fun place to spend a day with family.

It's heaven for kids. There are picnic park, swimming beach, games centre, fun rides and a wide range of cafes and restaurants.

The kids' favourite - trampolines.

Tea cups go-round

This one is called Jungle Mountain.

 It's a huge 20 feet tall hamper-like structure filled with webs of elastic bands. The fun is climbing to the top while bouncing on the rubber bands.

 Adzim was quick but fell back to help Ira every now and then so Helmi was the first to reach the top.

 The fare is for all day. You could come out for rest and return to play again as long as you don't lose the tag in your wrist.

Second time around, Adzim won, Ira got the hang of it and made it on her own.

I don't think they had enough fun time here. I personally think we need to stay 2 days to really enjoy everything around here.

We got here by public transport, catching the Joondalup line train from Perth and alighted at Warwick. Which was a mistake because that only work on weekdays. As it was Saturday, we needed to stop at Greenwood station. So down we went again to catch the train and waited for the train to alight at the correct station, just a stop away, by the way. From there, we took a bus to Hillary Boat Harbour. The train ride plus the bus ride took us about 45 min.