Look from my eyes, feel from my heart: Suang's visit to Perth

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Suang's visit to Perth

Last week, Suang Suang came to visit me!! :) She flew from Melbourne for a 4-day conference but we only met up for two mornings and one night because she was busy at the conference and I was busy at work. Unfortunately, she couldn't stay longer over the weekends because she had some experiments to do or else I would have brought her to Fremantle and Cottlesloe. If she reads this, she will again be mad. LOL.

Suang Suang's arrival in Perth was a funny one. Early that morning, when she was in Melbourne Airport waiting to depart, I whatsapp her, telling her that the weather in Perth wouldn't be good that day. It was very cloudy and there was a forecast thunderstorm and hailstorm later in the afternoon. Well, the weather forecast was right. By noon, a very heavy thunderstorm hit Perth that all of us were stuck indoors. I didn't know what time Suang Suang was arriving then, but I got a whatsapp message from her at about half past 3 telling me that she was stuck in the plane on the airport tarmac and that she had already touched down an hour and a half earlier but the passengers weren't allowed to disembark the plane yet because it was unsafe for the airport ground staff to work. Fair enough. We exchanged numerous whatsapp messages while she was on the plane; I thought I should keep her company since she was travelling all alone. Haha.

Hours pass and the thunderstorms cleared and I went home. She had already had 2 movies showed on the plane since she touched down and there was no news of when she was getting out!!! Apparently, there were many flights delayed/cancelled and so there were no parking bays for incoming planes to park and disembark their passengers. Ahead of her were 6-7 planes and she said that two planes that touched down later than hers managed to disembark earlier because there were emergency cases - an anxious pregnant lady and another anxious man. It had already been 4 hours since she landed on Perth soil but have not touched it nor smell the air yet. We were supposed to meet up for dinner that day so I told her to message me when she left the airport.

Came 7 pm; 5 hours after she touched down and there was no news of her yet!! I texted her asking if she was still on the plane and yes she was! What seemed funny initially became frustrating. I couldn't imagine how she could ever tolerate that! Thanks to her laptop and her wireless USB, she could go online and happily chat and update her Facebook statuses; so at least that kept her sane throughout that whole waiting period. Haha. And I thought that once she left the plane, she was all good to go and we could meet up slightly later than planned.

Well, one bad thing led to another. She was totally taken aback looking at the chaos in the domestic airport. There were thousands of people in the small airport, all waiting for their luggage. Now, this dear friend of mine, thought it was fun to check in a 7 kg bag. So well, she had "so much fun" just waiting for 1 and a half hours to get her luggage! By the time she arrived her hotel (after waiting for 30 minutes for the bus shuttle, that is), it was almost close to 9 pm!! Since her body clock was 3 hours ahead of Perth's time, we rescheduled our meet-up til the next morning at 7 am. So, well, I pitied Suang Suang a lot for having to face with this nightmare on her first visit to Perth. I'm glad that it didn't leave a bad impression of Perth to her and she said that she liked the place and want to come back again with her fiance! Ooh, can't wait for the next visit!! :)

Suang Suang's paid accommodation at The New Esplanade Hotel

I can't believe that it has been almost 3 years since I last saw her. The very last time we saw each other was during my graduation day when she came and took a picture with me. :) Even though we hardly kept in touch with each other; just once a while on MSN and whatsapp, Chin Fei was still surprised at how much we could talk on and on, like there's no stopping at all. Haha. I think he kinda saw how much I really miss my friends in Melbourne and I think he was happy that Suang Suang came and accompany me. Haha. It's funny how this time when we met, it wasn't any awkward at all and we just clicked immediately as if we were just continuing a conversation from yesterday!! We talked about our PhDs (most of the times), our friends, families, our weight and exercise regimes and even each of our proposals!! Haha. :)

Anyway, here are the pictures of us. I hope that it won't be another 3 years before we meet again. I'm looking forward to having another friend from Melbourne dropping by Perth. You know, Perth is really not that far. It's still in Australia, okay? :P