Across the Land

When the 'authorities' talked about the school closure due to haze, nothing or rather no one was clear about it. School or no school? Which states? Teachers and students or only students? Whose authority it is to give directive, PMD or MOE? MOE's website was out-dated for urgent issue like this. They seemed very slow in making decision. Should it be called 'cuti berganti' or 'cuti darurat jerebu'? Then, the night before the next day. 'Teacher, got school or not?' The TV1 highlighted, 'school is still closed'. Another, 'schools may open tomorrow'. Statements are contradictory. I just want the MOE to be the only one giving one fast, short and clear announcement through its website and on television.

I think this is the first time the schools in KL and Selangor are closed due to haze. So are in several parts of West Malaysia. The topic is all over the country and all over the social networks. People hating it. Hating the people who started it. The smell of the smokey haze is so obvious as if the burnings are happening in the neighborhood. And the doors and windows are all tightly closed. Muar was on emergency status last night and it still is again, I think, this morning. The API index reading was 750! Over there in Riau, Indonesia, they are covered by double thick smoke of their doing. The lungs are crying, "hello, Indonesian Government, what are you doing?!"

Three Saturdays in a row were used and will be used for school related events. The first was the best, it was made compulsory to have fun and relaxation. Kasih disemai, Sayang dibelai . The only one working was the mouth; to chew and swallow. And for talking and laughing.

Waking up early on Monday, 27th May was our third day in Scarborough. We didn't go to Hillary Harbour up north as I wanted to. My husband decided to breakfast at Karrinyup shopping center..cant remember what his reason was for going there. We were early and it was barely opened. Since we won't have kebab for breakfast as we want to try it later at another outlet at Broadway, we settled down with some pastries, and definitely some hot coffee for me. Soon, we were on our way to Nedland Broadway Shopping Center to visit Kongs Oriental grocery store for the Golden Baronia nougats. It is aud$4 cheaper here than in Freemantle which my son bought at aud$30. We haven't tasted any australian nougats before, so, we didnt know how many packet to buy. The one I have tasted is the turkish nougats at the hotels and they didnt go down well with my taste palate. The Australian nougats are very nice and I regretted not buying more. The Mondo Nougat is more expensive and according to ...

Freemantle was the western gateway to Australia and still retains much of its old charm. It was said that, many of Fremantle's old buildings have been painstakingly restored and claimed as "one of the best examples of a victorian port streetscaape in the world". Oh, well.. So. after having leftovers for breakfast (we tapau the extra grilled chicken from Dianella the nite before and croissants from the Oscars), we set off to Fremantle port down south on the 26th May. Our original plan was to visit Karrunyip Sunday Market at 7 am but have to forget about it because of MM sleeping time hehe. So, the first place we went to was E-Shed market which opens 3 days a week, Friday to Sunday at 9 0r maybe 10 am. Since we were early, parking was easy. The market was located near Victoria Quay. It is very quiet as compared to the Fremantle Markets which is bursting with people. I prefer the latter to the former as regards to the things they have and sell. E-Shed sells cheaper souveni...

It's has been more than a week since I came back from Perth. There were 9 of us, all in the family, including my 4-month old grandson, MM going on the 3-day trip. If you ask me whether that's enough, I tell you it isn't. For a first timer to Perth, I must know Perth quite well in order to plan the places we wanted to go. For that I need the google map where I plotted the directions from one place of attraction to another. Included were the places where where we would be having the main meals, lunch and dinner. Or else, we would have wasted our short precious time. I realized (after the trip), having pamphlets containing thematic maps and lists of things to see and do, should help me better in future trips. It was all there on the map. My mistake, because I have forgotten the maps, thinking the internet infos and the gps gadget were enough.