A trip Down Under - Part II

Day 2

Setelah kegagalan semalam mencari Birkenhead Point, we wake up early determine to find the ferry to the place. So we took the train to Circular Quay. From the train platform, you can get a good view of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. Sibuk ambik gambar, sampai camera dah habis batery pulak. Kena bebel lagi.

We got down to the pier and found that there's only 2 Ferries going to Birkenhead Point one at 8 am which we have missed and the other at 4pm. Apakah? We're sure that the place will close around 6, if dapat pergi 1 hour aje.. mana cukup. But before that jom memposer kat depan Sydney Opera House. Aku sibuk suruh kakak aku ambik gambar aku kat ferry2 tu with the background of the bridge, tapi dia takut sebab banyak sea gulls flying around. Turn aku pulak membebel-bebel. Eh tak ni dah masuk maki hamun... ha dah sampai jauh2 nak ambik gambar pun tak nak. B*B*.. semua dah kuar. Seronok jugak cakap melayu bila maki sebab orang taj paham. Tetiba akak terstop meroyan sebab ada minah mat salleh ni pun tengah meroyan jugak. Tah kenapa gaduh yang agak hebat jugak, so kitaorang cepat2 blah dari situ.



So since batery camera dah habis, we headed back to the hotel and makan. After that, dengan semangat jitu, we thought let's forget about Birkenhead Point for a bit and try to look for the outlet at Homebush instead. Khabar angin mengatakan bahawa tempat ini dekat dengan Olympic Park. Very near. Again Tipah tertipu lagi. Here's why. The place is called Homebush. There's a stop called Homebush, there's a stop called Olympic Park. We were hoping that it's a place somewhere in between that is near distance. So first we stopped at Homebush, only to discover it's in the middle of nowhere and no one on the platform knows the place. Aik, wujud ke tak tempat ni. So we decided let's get back on the train and go to Olympic Park, which we need to change train at Licombe. Ok 3 zaman pulak nak tunggu train yang pergi Limcombe stop at that station. All the train that has been wizzing pass, are express train. Aparently only homeless people stay there so the train rarely stops. Finally we got on a train. We sat in the same carriage as this homeless guy. We were afraid of each other but just sat quietly. Nevertheless, he saw me looking at the window and keep on muttering Olympic Park. So he told us that it's at the next stop, and the platform will be on the right side. So we got to the stop, change train. Aparently the Olympic Park station was built specially for the Olympic Games in 2000. Macam Bukit Jalil la gitu.

We got out at the Park. It looks exactly like Bukit Jalil....deserted. No bus, no taxi, no one. Well no one looked friendly enough for us to ask direction. So we walked a bit in hoping to find signage to the Outlet. Bak kata aku, Haram tidak ada. We sat on a bench looking the ANZ stadium (where the games was held) silently cursing our luck. Then we notice that there's some office blocked and a Novotel nearby and some taxis waiting. aha... we went to the cab driver and ask him to take us to Homebush. He grunted and said, "This is nearby. Just 10 minutes that way", pointing to a road straight ahead.

Nak tak nak, we begin our journey. If nightmare takde Visa was bad, this was far horrible. It's bloody far ok. 10 minutes naik kuda mungkin la. Jalan kaki was like 30minutes. It's like you stopped at Bukit Jalil Station, but the place is actually Astro visitor's entrance behind McDonalds/Petronas tepi highway tu. It's like turun kat Bukit Jalil, jalan depan apartment blocks tu, lalu depan akuatic center, sampai sekolah sukan bukit jalil, keluar ke jalan besar tu.. lalu depan Astro, jalan depan lagi sampai Petronas, pastu masuk dalam sampai kat Visitor's entrance. Or if context Melaka, jauhnya macam dari MMU, jalan sampai Jaya Jusco kat luar tu!! And exactly la macam jalan2 keliling Bukit Jalil.. 6 lane, highway all the way dengan lori dengan kereta laju2 lalu. And suddenly ada la dua ekor budak ni jalan kat pavement tepi tu in the middle of the hot sun! If this is not kerja gila, i don't know what is. We only met one soul in journey and she never heard of the place either. Kakak aku dah macam paranoid.. eh betul ke ni, betul ke.. nak pergi terus ke.. nak pergi terus ke.. (that is after 2 km walk). Aku senyap aje sebab 1) nak conserve energy 2) no way in hell I'm going to walk back sebab naik bukit 3) rasa macam nak maki hamun dia semankin memuncak sebab dia yang tak research bebtul. Akhirnya setelah sekian lama berjalan, tiba-tiba dia kata, eh aku dah nampak dah.. ha kat depan tu. Yang aku pulak dah delirious sebab lama sangat dalam matahari goes like, "ha mana? mana? tak nampak pun?" Ada kat depan tu. So we picked up our pace and bagaikan pencahayaan dari syurga, aku tetiba ternampak muka Harry Kewell dari celah-celah semak and the signage DFO - Direct Factory Outlet. Halleluyah!

Apa lagi, kami pun tidak lagi menoleh kebelakang. Tiba-tiba macam ada out of body experience. My soul has floated inside that started the assault in all the shops. Shopped till we dropped sampai gelap kat luar. There's Timberland,Converse, Nine West, Ralph Lauren and tah apa lagi outlets. We bought sunglasses, shoes, t-shirts, jackets, jeans and Subway Sandwich (sebab lapar). My favorite purchase is a pair of Timberland trainers and a hoodie in a color that I like very much. Sangat cool. Akak like. Rasa macam tetiba nak jadi sangat an outdoorsy person pulak. There's this one shop selling all sorts of cool looking t-shirt with cartooon characters. Aku nyesal plak tak beli hoodie ada gambar Sponge Bob sebesar alam. Boleh pakai kat office. Senang boss nak kenal. Hahahahah. The lady at the counter told us that there's a bus stop outside which we can take bus no 545 i think and it will stop at Strathfield station. Ooooo... this station is one stop before Licombe tadi. All smiley and happy we went back and I vow to tell the world that if you want to go to the outlet (which you should...), stop at Strathfield station and take the bus to the Outlet. Ok, the bus number might be wrong (sebab dah lama, x ingat), but you can ask :) (and you don't have to walk so far) . End of day 2.

p/s: siap check diary plak, bus from Strathfield is 525 to Homebush Outlet.

A trip to Down Under - Part I

Since I have only 5 days to blog about all the happenings in 2009, I better get cracking. I have been postponing to write about this trip, cause I thot I have so many things to write about it. But now, since this trip was way in April - May, semua sudah lupa. So here goes nothing...

Day 0

Arrived in KLIA way ahead of schedule. Wah too good to be true. Jarang benda ni berlaku. Selalunya dah terkejar nak check in and boarding ala cerita Home Alone. Dah berangan nak check in and do window shopping in all of the Airport luxury stores. Dengan semangat poyo yang waja, marched right to the check in Kiosk and slot in Pasport to check in. Wah hebat.. dah tak payah pergi counter. Suddenly, "Error. Please go to counter to check in" Hampeh with capital H.

Stepped up to the counter with still a high poyo spirit. Dah bersiap sedia nak melaser nak cakap Kiosk tu lain kali jangan letak kalau tak boleh guna. A quick check by the lovely girl behind the counter, our nightmare suddenly begin. Well, traveling with me memang dah biasa ada nightmare. Malas aje nak cerita. It's just that this is a mother of all nightmares. Jason vs Freddy kind of nightmare.

"Kak... akak takde visa nak pergi Sydney".. Sayyy whhhatttt? Oh NO! Flight lagi 2 jam. 2 jam. Macam mana ni orang kampung semua dah tahu nak pergi Ostolia ni.

"Eh, Commanwell country bukan tak payah buat Visa ke?" (tanya macam ala2 ada degree in Political Science, pastu dah keje dengan UN 5 tahun)

"Err tak.. cuma rakyat Australia and New Zealand aje yang tak payah Visa"

OH MY GOODNESS....camno ni...

"Err.. takpe.. akak pergi ticketing office kat floor bawah, diaorang boleh tolong buatkan Visa. Beg ni tinggal sini la dulu, tak payah susah2 bawak". Oh terima kasih adik ku yang baik lagi mulia disisi masyarakat. Note that I refered her earlier as lovely girl behind the counter (instead of the normal Biatch No 1 or Imbecil No 1). So off we go to the ticketing office. Kakak aku pun mula membebel-bebel secukup rasa dan rempah. Tu la kau.. tu la kau.. tu la kau. Haih, kalau tak, tak jadi cerita burung bayan (to quote my mum).

At the ticketing office, muka masih maintain cool. Bila adik jaga number tu tanya nak urusan apa. Cakap nak buat Visa. Bila dia check flight kitaorang muka dia memang terpancar 'Ha?Nak mampus? Flight lagi 2 jam baru nak buat visa? Sah-sah la kau tak dapat naik flight ni' - tapi dia maintain professional la. Ok ambik no and tunggu. and berdoa. If tak dapat fly, dah kira2 nak pergi Bali la ... pergi mana2 sebab dah set our mind nak pergi holiday dah. Nak naik jugak flight.. walaupun sampai Puchong. Waiting and hoping and praying like crazy. Apa tak nya.. dah pukul 8 malam, in Canberra it's already 10 pm. Sape pulak la yang keje nak telexkan Visa kitaorang ni.
Setelah macam 40 minute in agony, tiba-tiba datang cahaya ilahi bila namaku dipanggil. Yahooo... Visa gua sudah siap. Aik.. nama kakak aku tak panggil pulak lagi. Kena lagi maki hamun dengan dia... lepas 15 minute tu, nama dia plak. Alhamdulillah. Kena la bayar RM60. If RM100 pun aku bayar. No question ask.

Dapat la naik flight. We are 8 hours eh ke 7 hours away from Sydney. Naik je flight, in the spirit of Malaysia Boleh, semua orang nak tukar seat. Flight memang kosong. Boleh kalau nak tido satu baris sorang pun ok. Steward and Stewardess memang tabah betul. Semua layan dengan patience. Nak tukar duduk sama kawan. Nak tukar duduk row depan. Nak duduk dalam overhead compartment. Nak duduk atas food trolley. Semua boleh. Dah settle semua. Baru la senang hati semua orang. As soon as flight take off, konon la dah plan nak tengok movie apa, cerita apa, main game apa.. sekali lepas makan terus tido sampai esoknya. ZZzzzzzzzz...

Day 1

The picture above was taken from the airplane window. Daylight breaking across Sydney.. or somewhere in the middle of the ocean. In a short time, we landed in Sydney. The immigration check was breezy. We filled in the form and declared that we brought Maggi and what nots. The immigration dude, quickly call us to the counter. It was a delight because 1) we skipped the frickin long queue of the 'Nothing to declare' and 2) the immigration dude is cute guy who could be an extra in Neighbours called John.

John 'intterogated us' - "is this your bag?" "yes (silly)" "did you pack it yourself?" "of course (duhhh)" "you know what's in your bag?""yes (apa ke hal dia ni?)", then he rummaged thru our bags. I'm disappointed that he didn't even ask about the pack of Maggi Ayam. I was prepared to dazzle him with my expertise of it's ingredient (having consumed the miracle noodle since the age of 5). Ok, all done.

Welcome to Sydney. G'day! Cheers.

As I was pulling my bag to look for the train to the city, I wander why did he ask such questions. Then it dawn to me... oh right, in case he suddenly find drugs in my bag, I can't go around acting.. errr.. this is not my bag. I didn't put it there. I don't know how I put it there...

Right.. here's the train to the city. We need to take this train and stop at King's Cross and walk to our hotel in Potts Point. The name sound lovely. Already liking it. Only to discover, celaka there's so many lines and reading the train network is like deciphering Da Vinci's Code... in ancient sanskrit (not that I know modern Sanskrit any better). Finally after going up and down, hi and lo, we arrived at King's Cross. The hotel is a 10 minute walk from the station. Jangan tertipu bila dia kata 10 minute walk. Aparently mereka tak begitu paham dengan perumpamaan dekat sekakang kera.. sebab sebenarnya mereka maksudkan jauh nak mampus atau jauh bergenat kaki boleh patah. I shall give more examples shortly. Anyway, the walk was not that bad, it's just that we're not familiar with the place and tangan dah nak patah tarik bag aku (yang in it's previous life was a 1000 pound baby elephant)

But seriously, Potts Point is a lovely place. Maybe this is where the gay and the yuppies live in Sydney. It has loads of apartments and posh restaurants, intellectual looking bookshop, flower shop, streets lined with maple trees, and bakeries that is run by Australian Rachel Ray equivalents. But just down the road is Kings Cross full of bars and strip club. Who wouldn't want to live here.

So we checked into the hotel. It's small but at least it has everything. Oppoosite it is a supermarket - Woolworth. This hotel/apartment was recomended by my team mate who went to Sydney for his honeymoon. (Thanks dude!)

After menghilangkan penat bak kata orang Melayu, we are ready to do some shopping. So my sister had surf the net and decided we must check out the factory outlet called Birkenhead Point (supposedly by a river) and an outlet somewhere called Homebush. We checked with the guy at the reception. He suggested for us to check out Darling Harbour and go to Paddy's Market. According to him, it's not very far from our hotel. We can get to the harbour (where the Sydney Opera house is), by going straight... go down 'whatsisname staircase' and turn right...another walk, then another 'whatsisname staircase - just 100 steps', go thru the Botanical Garden... just 15 minutes and boom you're at the Harbour. Lovely walk he said. Lovely as in you may die in this journey, but if you die, you will die happy (note again of their understanding of dekat and jauh nak mampus compared to Malaysian. Benci aku). I just smiled and said oh we want to go to Birkenhead Point (besides he already had lost me at the first 'whatsisname' staircase). He was not really sure which bus that will stop at the place, but after consulting his map, he gave us the alleged bus number and printed a copy of the map for us. How nice.

Off we went. We took the train again and stop at QVB. And walked outside to find our bearing. It started to rain. Cis. We stood at the corner of whatsisname and whatsisname street,and (as a Kelantanese might say) we waited waited, but the bus dideng come. Akak sudah mahu meroyan. Tanya semua orang, semua orang tak tahu. Kakak aku pulak sudah melakonkan watak Stamford Raffle nak berdiri terpacak dalam hujan tapi tak nak bertanya. Akhirnya.. we decided that we should grab a bite and clear our minds. After makan, we walked the road, ke atas.. ke bawah.. haram pun takde bas no brp tah tu lalu. So we walked all over the place Someone said we should go to Circular Quay coz that's where all the buses will stop. But after walking like eons, we decided to take whatever bus number because we're tired walking. The bus went on the Harbour Bridge. Ha jangan marah, dah naik pun aku Harbour Bridge. Suddenly we were scared coz we don't know where we're going, so we got off the next stop which is at a train station. Asked the folks at the station how to get to Birkenhead Point, they said you have to take the ferry. We were puzzled. Took the train to go back to QVB. The train went on the Harbour Bridge as well. Ha 2 kali aku naik Harbour Bridge. Stopped at QVB and went out another exit and suddenly find ourselves, on a street that has a bus stop which has a bus that we were looking for. Ya rabbi dah dekat 2 jam pusing area ni macam orang gila. So we waited with a throng of school kids. Seronok pulak tengok uniform depa yang cool. The bus came, we were tired yet happy. Finally.

About 10 minutes on the bus, we finally saw Birkenhead Point on our right. Ok, so now we just need to wait for the bus to make a right turn then we will stop. Ho Ho Ho. The bus went straight. So we thought.. ok maybe it will double back and go on the other side of the road. Ho Ho Ho lagi. It went straight for the next 1 hour and suddenly we find ourselves in Paramatta. It's like, you want to go to Petaling Street but you ended up in Westport in Klang. We are trully, madly, deeply - LOST. Well, I do enjoy the ride... get to see their houses, school, a few universities but right.. what the hell are we going to do now? Luckily the last stop was at the Paramatta train station. So we boarded the train again back to Sydney. Nasib beli all day pass. Macam-macam jenis train dah naik hari ni. Yang 3 tingkat, yang 2 tingat, yang buruk, yang ada toilet, semua aku dah naik. Sudahnya, first day, satu hapak pun tak buat kecuali jalan-jalan naik train and bus keliling Sydney suburb. Penatnya toksah cerita la. Tapi posing tetap posing dalam train nak balik Sydney. Balik terus tido. Esoknya pulak...(to be continued)

Rangkuman Sukan Minggu Ini

Rushed update. This is important (kononnya)


1. Soccer Front:

Manure was thrashed! Yippee. But Chelsea managed a draw only. Haih. What a killjoy.

Anyhoo, more importantly, Malaysia won gold in Sea Games Football. The long awaited Gold. 20 tahun katanya. Last time it was in 1989 in KL. I remember watching it... but can't remember who and how Malaysia won. Ye la .. masa tu baru 5 tahun.. mana nak ingat. Hahahah

Well, Malaysia beat Vietname 1-0 with an own goal? Sloppy goal or not, cheap shot or not, we won. Habis cerita! Well done boys. I hope you guys don't come back and once owning pieces of land, Datukship, Hondas, GTIs, BMWs... and totally forgot how to play footie.

I was in Singapore, watched the game live on RTM2... on the hotel bed, under the cover, while eating Murtabak dari Victory. Ha mmg victory pun :)

2. F1 front

I thot things are not going to be exciting at all next season. But Lo and Behold. I saw the news today and made me sat up. What? Petronas is sponsoring Mercedes GP? The winning Brawn GP team? The winning Brawn GP team with Ross Brawn as the team's principal? Even more interesting, Michael Schumacher has signed up as their driver. If this is not a winning recipe, I don't know what is. This will be like Ferarri days... minus the scarlett prancing horse that is. More rumors miling... maybe Heidfeld will get the 2nd driver's seat (or maybe Kubica or Nico Rosberg). Oh my... suddenly I feel like purchasing the F1 ticket now for I have a team to support. Hehehe... new merchandise to be bought - Mercedes GP Petronas FI team. (It's official. Check out their website)

But wait a second... the plot thickens. Apa hal pulak with Malaysia One Malaysia's F1 team with Lotus? Why the heck Malaysia brand is not sponsoring a Malaysia team? Scandal. Shock. Confused. As a patrotic Malaysian who does not vote but pay taxes, I strongly believe that Malaysian brand should support Malaysian team. But then again, the other part of me is thinking, if you're gonna blow your money... at least put it somewhere that has a chance of winning. I wish team Lotus Malaysia F1 the very best. I do hope you prove me wrong. But jangan marah, next season I will be wearing Silver and Blue Turqoise or Green.. or what ever it is.

To Mr Button. Pi rah mabuk. I would like to let you know that I have thrown away your Button Up t-shirt as it has been stained and it's not removable. I have no remorse at all saying good bye to it. Or to you.

Good bye and Good Nite!

And the short of it...

Aha.. suddenly there's a lot of interesting news going on this week. So let's make it short

First up, Malaysian football team is in the Sea Games final, after beating Laos 3-1 in the semis. Tak sia-sia aku duduk rumah tengok. So how come they suddenly play better? Oh no wonder this is the under-23 squad. Tiada kuda tua dibenarkan main. Thank God! Did not recognize any of the players accept the poser twins of course. And another factor of Malaysian victory was that the striker twin is not in the squad anymore... heard he was sent home sbb sakit perut.. ke some nonsense reason. Thank God lagi! Aku serious rasa dia tak boleh harap.

We were sceptical thru out the match even though Malaysia was leading 1-0. We feel that Laos will pull a MU by scoring a very last minute goal. Dah siap dah membincangkan the headlines in the next day news. Among top picks:

1. Skuad Harimau Hilang Belang

2. So near yet so far

3. Harapan Musnah oleh Pengakosayo (or any of the Laos player's name)

4. Malaysia's Out (again)

5. Dissapointment!

Wuhuuu nasib menang. They will meet Betnam Boys in the finals. Perhaps we might still need the headlines after all... erk

Next, Women's badminton team won Gold! Yeay!!!! Men's team did not (despite having World No 1s) - Hampeh!

No tiga, the Golden globe nominees are out. As usual, I'm worried because I haven't seen most of the movies nominated....but I notice a few. And boy what a laugh!

Nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy are 1) Hangover and 2) 500 Days of Summer. Hahahah most of the Yahoo readers are chosing Hangover. Hahahhaha. Pada sesiapa yang tak tengok lagi Hangover, please do so. And let me know if lepas tu terasa nak menyetan or rasa macam nak kena heart attack? and 500 Days of Summer.... heheheh which brings us to Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy nominees - Joseph Gordon-Levitt (for 500 days of Summer). The experts from the website picked him! Eventhough there's Robert Downey Jr iun the list. I'd really like to see him win... Joseph that is. Hahahahha.

And Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, Colin Firth is nominated for

A Single Man, playing a Gay Man (of course). Sighhhhh...

And for the love of god, will you give Neil Patrick Harris the Globe already for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television! He's gay and yet he's playing such an asshole of a MCP with such flair! I like. And there's Glee nominated alongside 30 Rock and Entourage and the Office. I do hope they win pulak.

And yang paling penting sekali, setelah 7 hari mencari jawapan, setelah kena restore 2 kali, setelah mendownload 3 file dalam 3 malam, setelah tidak bayar satu sen pun - Ipode II ( Ipod Touchku) telah di upgrade ke firware 3.1.2.

IN YOUR FACE!

Skang mau main Katamari Lite. Yipeee

p/s: ada ke kat SG Wang nak charge RM60 utk upgrade or unlock? Extortion!

Timkai?

Timkai? Timkai? Timkai?

Why? Why? Why?

It started off with a boring night. I can't really sleep. So, I decided to dig out an iTunes gift card that I bought months ago on a trip to Sydney. After spending sometime googling addresses in Sydney, I'm now a registered user on iTunes who lives in Potts Point Sydney. 10 marks to me :)

So what shall I buy with my AUD15 gift card on iTunes Store now? Hmmm... aha.. saw Glee tv series. Bought the pilot for 2.69. Well worth it. Will hunt down for the DVD when in Penang next. What else... what else... aha, free games. Let the fun begins. Download download and download somemore. OMGGGGGGG!!! I Love Katamari Lite. FREE. I am in heaven. Cepattt sync to ipod.If this is good, I'm gonna spend 5.99 on the full version of Katamari from itunes. Sync completed. Aik? Apasal game tak sync pulak? arghhh stress. Nak main katamari tak sabar!

Bantuan diperlukan. "Google, google on the Net, what the hell is going on?" Google said 1) my ipod firware is way out of date being ipod touch 1st gen 2) there's a possibility that my jailbreaked 1st gen ipod touch might not even be compatibile if I upgrade to 3.0 firrware thus cannot play Katamari jugak arghhh 3) It will cost me 5.99 to upgarde to firware 3.0 (nanti tak cukup pulak duit nak beli Katamari full version ...grrrr) .. Right.. should I risk it? Should i upgrade and face the posibility that the currents apps on my ipod will be lost? Or hilang pulak file yang dah ada on my ipod? Or worst, my ipod got locked out and have to zapp everything out and reinstall?

Decision. Decision. Decision. Ok dah pukul 2 pagi. Tido dulu.

Next day consult lagi Tok Guru Google. OH MY HANDBAGS IN THE CLOSET! There's rumors that Apple will launch Ipod Touch - 4th Gen with ... (wait for it) CAMERA! Argghhhhhh!!!!!! Stress! What does this means? It means that now I have to surf again for mobile phone. Aik tak berkaitan. I've been meaning nak tukar phone.. of course always wanted an iPhone.. but since it's only on Maxis, i'd rather use telepon dari tin susu. I hate their crappy expensive charges. I sort of put a criteria that if I were to buy a new phone.. it must have a kick ass camera, with huge storage. Arghhh... now maybe I can just buy a simple phone and get the 4th Gen ipod touch instead? But I have also set my eyes on the 4Gb Ipod shuffle with remote volume and shuffle control earphones. Blerghh. The ipod touch 4th gen.. though rumored, i found some pictures... they come in so many colors. Hmm... 4th gen ipod comes with latest firware, can play Katamari... but how long do I have to wait? Kang dah tunggu berjanggut, beli, keluar pulak ipod touch 5th Gen with a build in mini Microwave.. boleh panaskan goreng pisang kat office?

PENING.

Dah 3 hari, masih tak boleh main Katamari and now with new headache, nak tunggu ipod touch 4th gen or get a new phone or get ipod shuffle 4gb.

SIGH.

Masalahnya takde duit. If ada pokok duit, bring it on Apple! You can produce as many generation of ipods and Macs you want, I will always have the money to buy them ALL. ALL... YOU HEAR ME! Muahahhaha *Evil laugh*

Ceh... I only hear Steve Jobs laughing back at me.

VHAVI.

Two less lonely people in the world...

And it's gonna be fine

Out of all the people in the world...

I just can't believe.... that I won free tickets to this concert!

Muahahahhahah... setelah kekecewaan di Konsert Awan Biru and the Beyonce-tak-nak-pakai-purdah did a no show, this concert - Air Supply Encore, restored my faith in good music and old school entertainment. This two granddad had much more spunk then the supposedly king of rock kapak malaysia. Ok let's not talk about that flop of a concert. Let's focus on this one.

Of course.. all great concert had to either be on a working night.. or on Sunday night. It's a challenge for those honest, hardworking people like me. (yes.. I hear your Ya Right?!) Hahaha.. Well, climbing up and down the frickin hill at night still is a challenge ok. So we decided that we shall take the bus, the sky lift and get a bus down again. A few frantic phone calls later, I found out that there's a last bus going down the hill at 10.30pm.. or was it 11.00pm. Hmm we thot the concert might finish at 11.30... so takpe la.. if we have to missed out a few songs.

At 5.30pm, we boarded the bus to Genting, together with a the throng of Bukit Clan and a few holiday goers. Very embarrasing as we were dressed as if we are going to climb mount Everest and yet the Bukit Clan are all in shorts and tank tops.. as if they are going to Patong Beach. And of course Bukit Clan already knew that no food or drinks are allowed on the bus, so we had to hide our Big Macs and Whopper Junior in our handbags. Celaka.. now handbag smell like meat.

We slept all the way to Genting. Happy days when discovered that there's a long queue going up. Had to queue with a now larger Bukit Clan. Yipppeee. When we reach the resort, we had to find our way to Arena's of Star. Bapak la jauhnya. Suddenly when all calories are burnt plus the cold wheather.. lapar la pulak. We ate at Merry Brown though the price was riddiculously expensive. I truly hate this place. Kota Keriangan apanya if ayam 2 ketul sampai RM12? Siapa yang riang?

Sigghhhh... now it's 8pm, the concert hall is still not yet opened. Rupanya, band tak siap sebab baru sampai dari Bangkok ke Manila ke Singapore tah tghhari tu. So atuk2 belum bangun tidur lagi agaknya. Finally when the doors open, kiasu level reached all time high. Bukit Clan's kiasu level lagi la tidak dapat nak dibantu. Semuanya tak reti nak beratur. Pantang tok nenek aku if orang cut queue depan aku. We manage to separate a couple who's holding hand who purposesly cut in front of us. We simply push our way thru.. and heard the boy friend said.. relax relax.. no need to push. Relax kepala otak nenek sebelah bapak tiri kau. If you don't know how to relax and not cut queue, don't expect me to relax as well ok. So belum2 lagi dah hangin. Haihh!

After waiting for 20-30 minutes, the lights grew dim and the concert starts. Yeaaaaa.....eh hold on, this is not Air Supply. It's some dude who sang 2 songs... one of which, My Way by Frank Sinatra. Layan je la.

And then.....

Now the night has gone
Now the night has gone away
Doesn't seem that long
We hardly had two words to say
Hold me in your arms for just another day
I promise this one will go slow
Oh, we have the right you know
We have the right you know


Don't say the morning's come
Don't say the morning's come, so soon
Must we end this way
When so much here is hard to lose
Love is everywhere I know it is
Such moments as this are too few
Oh, it's all up to you
It's all up to you


(Chorus) Here I am, the one that you love
Asking for another day
Understand, the one that you love
Loves you in so many ways


Tell me we can stay
Tell me we can stay, oh please
Those are the words to say
The only words I can believe
Hold me in your arms for just another day
I promise this one will go slow
Oh, we have the right you know
We have the right you know


(Chorus (2X))
The night has gone, a part of yesterday
I don't know what to say
I don't know what to say


AAAHHHHHHHHHHHAAHHHHHHHHH... they opened with my fav song!

The crowd went WILD. Aku jerit macam la nampak Brad Pitt bukak baju. The crowd was on their feet the whole time. Singing along with them. Satu lagu aje aku dah sakit tekak. When they came down from the stage and went walk about amongst the crowd... dari WILD dah jadi MADDNESS FRENZY plak. Ni la baru concert! They sang all of their hits. Sebijik macam karaoke.

We manage to stay till the end and still catch our bus. Though the driver bawak macam F1, belasah all the sharp corner masa turun bukit, akak tido nyenyak uols. Sedar-sedar dah sampai KL.

Rasa macam inspired nak karaoke session layan lagu Air Supply aje. Any takers?

p/s: esok tu aku tak MC eh... jangkaan meleset semua orang di office :)

Konsert tapi Picnic

Tak pernah dalam sejarah aku pergi konsert... aku lagi sibuk makan. Selalu either I really enjoy myself or I would fall asleep no matter how loud the music is. Tapi konsert ni, semua stall makanan aku pergi. Burger harga RM5 pun layan jugak. Burger paling mahal dalam sejarah penjualan ala pasar malam. Bukan tu aje yang aku makan. Sampai tunggu akak nasi lemak tu masak nasi lemak dia. Boleh ke tak. Sempat pulak buat karftangan macam kat bawah ni

Pastu dah bosan, apa lagi posing time:

Senang cerita, konsert ni memang hancur la kan.

Siapa2 band atau organizer yang hendak mendapatkan taraf konsert hancur sila la ikut panduan ini:

1. Pilih la location yang memang susah nak parking. Dah tau ada 3 juta orang nak datang, pilih la location yang ada 10 aje parking. Bagus.. akak like dapat melanggar undang2 jalan raya. Bukan dah double park malam tu.. aku dah triple park.. and ada lagi org buat line no 4 plak sebelah aku. Syabas betty!

2. Gunalah sistem ticketing yang super efficient iaitu.. setelah suruh orang beli online or dari agent, kena pulak bawak resit dan sampel DNA ke pintu masuk untuk claim pulak ticket sebenar. 5 orang memang cukup nak layan 3 juta orang yang nak datang claim ticket tu. Jangan letak 6 orang sebab nanti yang sorang tu memang tak buat keje pun...5 je cukup.

3. Buka la pintu lambat. Konsert start pukul 8 malam. 3 juta orang dah datang nak tengok konsert.. takpe bukak la pintu pukul 7.45 minit. 2.99 juta orang ni semua boleh terbang.. tak payah nak risau orang beratur ke tidak ke. Exciting sket bila orang pijak orang lain nak masuk. Macam tragedi trowong Muassim gitu.

4. Sila la lupa nak make sure band dah sampai kat lokasi konsert. Bila 3 juta orang datang dan ada 2.89 juta kereta dah triple park, jalan dah sesak sampai Seremban... band yang nak datang main, nak lalu mana pulak? Oh lupa ada helicopter mainan nak angkut depa bawak sampai stage. Tapi hari tu organizer lupa plak. So kena la buat announcement...." Aaa... band dah sampai dah.. tapi tersekat kat hujung jalan. Pada kereta2 yang blocking jalan .. boleh tak tolong alihkan"... Kepala otak kau berjambul jawab 3 juta yang dah susah2 triple park tadi.

5. Guna la sound system yang hampeh. Lepas tunggu 1 jam tak start2 sebab band dah tersekat, konsert pun start. Eh, pecah pulak sound system. Yeay! Break lagi... makan nasi lemak pulak

6. Untuk band pulak, dah tau semua orang suka lagu rock jiwang karat tu... jangan nyanyi lagu2 tu... nyanyi je lagu2 yang korang nak syok sendiri dapat goreng gitar sampai cair. Pedulik apa kan, sound system pun hancur... orang bukan dengar pun. Makan ayam goreng lagi best.

7. Akhir sekali kalau terdengar ada orang kata... "ehhh aku nak dengar lagu Gadis Misteri.. depa tak nyanyi lagi. Oooi... dah nyanyi la tadi. Ha ye ke?", tercapai la taraf konsert hancur itu.

Konsert apa agaknya ni ye?