osim in melbourne

while i was in melbourne, i came across two osim outlets: one was at chadstone and the other was at knotts city.

i did not enter the shop but stood outside and watched. the range of products is almost the same as that in singapore. however, i realise the high-end massage chairs are not available in australia. i did not see the red ipilot in the shops.

osim has really gone global.

caribbean market & mga golf driving range

a cold and wet day in melbourne. chris sent me an email to ask where i wanted to go today. as the day/date on the email was tuesday, i thought it was a delayed mail and did not respond to it. only when he called me on the mobile, did i realise that it was sent this morning.

i suggested going to the caribbean market located at fern gully road, scoresby. he had not been there for sometime. the stalls in the open were not operating because of the weather. anyway, it was very cold in the covered area as temperature was around 6 degrees. stallholders pay about $45 rental each time, and the place is open on wednesdays and sundays. parking is free on wednesdays. chris bought some aluminium covers for his stove and a pair of pants for $10 at the market.

later in the evening, we went to the direct factory outlet (dfo) next to morrabbin airport. we did not buying anything. we then drove to the melbourne golf academy (mga) to check out the place. they have a golf shop and a driving range. putting is free but short game (chipping) costs $5.00. to whack 100 balls, you need to pay $9 during off-peak and $13 during peak. you have an option to drive 50, 75 or 100 balls for which you pay varying amount.

in the evening, ida and i went with chris and del to glen waverley for dinner. i had suggested rock kung, but we ended up at grand tofu to eat yong tau foo and some dishes cooked malaysian-style like beef hor fun, char kway teow, wanton mee and hokkien mee. like the vietnamese restaurant we visited two days ago, chinese tea was complimentary.

it rained hailstones in clayton

today, chris came to pick me to go to dandenong market to buy vegetables for ivy and ida. bought cabbages, cauliflower, pak choy and mandarin oranges. chris bought a kilogram of assorted nuts for bel in singapore. as it was raining quite heavily, we waited it out by having a cup of coffee at a cafe.

as i needed to get some stationery for ida, chris drove me to ikea at victoria gardens, richmond. it is just like the ikea back home: they have a restaurant that serves swedish meatballs and cheap breadfast. got ida a set of file holders, a corkboard and two pieces of plastic for her table top. we did not have lunch in the ikea restaurant; instead, we had it at the food court.

after lunch, chris dropped me off at lantana. at about 2.30 p.m., i heard the sound of objects hitting the roofs of the houses. i looked out and saw pellets, the size of a pea, on the road. i realised that it was raining hailstones. hailstones can range from the size of a pea to that of a golf ball. it can be a very painful experience to be hit by 'golf ball sized hailstones'.

about that time, ida came back from her lectures at the university. she had her umbrella with her, otherwise she would have been hit by the white peas.

glorious sunrise at geelong

ivy's interviews for internship took her to ballarat and geelong. after leaving dr pradeep's dental clinic, we travelled along bulleen road to hit the eastern freeway. the eastern freeway eventually joins the western freeway, which is a quick access to ballarat.

when we reached ballarat, it was almost 2.30 p.m. we had lunch at a cafe in town. ivy had a soup while i ate fish and chips. the interview at the ballarat base hospital lasted 15 minutes. by 4.00 p.m. we were on our way to geelong via a300 - the midland highway.

it was getting dark when we reached geelong. in winter, the days are shorter, so by 5.30p.m. the sun is already getting below the horizon. we settled for an accommodation along the beach - the seamist holiday apartments facing the sea, at the eastern beach of geelong.

we decided to have dinner at the smorgy's family restaurant at cunningham pier. it was a buffet dinner, for whch we paid aus$17.95 each. it offered a modest range of the usual eatable buffet food. cannot compare to the spread at straits kitchen or the buffet at royal scotts in singapore. (we had buffet at royal on scotts the day before ida's departure for melbourne.)

this morning, i went for my morning walk along the seaside and was treated to a spectular sunrise. yes, the sun rose at around 7.15 a.m. the glow enveloped cunningham pier, fisherman's pier and the royal geelong yacht club.

dental appointment at doncaster

ivy had interviews for her internship at ballarat and geelong. ballarat is about 2-hour drive away from her place in clayton and geelong is about a one and a half hour journey by car. but we first had to make a detour to pradeep's dental clinic in doncaster, bawlyn north, to have my denture fixed.

pradeep is, my monk's hill colleague, rama's son who studied dentistry at melbourne university and decided to set up his practice in melbourne. he lives in hawthorn on his own, i think. at the clinic he is known by the name dr shawn rama.

when my denture broke, i was at a loss. i contacted ivy who told me that dental, like medical, charges were very high in australia. i first thought of soon's brother-in-law, dr gong. we had stayed with him during our earlier visits to melbourne. he lives and practises in a house in kew. soon messaged back to let me know that dr gong was back in singapore.

next, i thought of getting the assistance of anu. anu is a dentist by training but she does not practise. instead, she lectures in the university of melbourne. i called nara but there was no response; then, i remembered him telling me that he was going to sweden and germany in july to visit his two other daughters. i needed to get anu's phone numbers from nara.

then ivy mentioned rama's son whom she had met when she first came over to monash to study. i called rama in singapore and he gave me his son's mobile number. i called the number and he called back. i made arrangement to go down to his clinic the next day, the same day i had to accompany ivy to ballarat and geelong.

ivy had, in fact, contacted her friend pansy, also a dentist, who was able to do the job for me but ivy could not get in touch with me earlier. since i had already called pradeep, i decided that i would go to him to have it done.

i managed to locate his clinic quite easily, with the help of the melway. this australian street directory has the addresses of the houses indicated along the roads.

this evening i went with ida to collect the denture and pradeep refused to accept any payment.

bus and train to the city

ivy passed me her metlink card to be used for rides on the bus, train and tram in melbourne. i walked ida to arnott street, where valerie is staying, and crossed over to monash university campus to catch bus service 630 to huntingdale station. from the station, i took the city loop train to flinders street station. across the station is the tourist information centre and federation square.

i first tried to locate the singapore kopitiam - which is supposed to be at the junction of bourke street and russell street. not a sign of it. bought red bean bun (aus$1.60) and custard pie (aus$1.80) from breadtop along brouke street. walked down to liitle bourke - chinatown. found out later that the kopitiam is at 213 russell street.

went to the tourist information centre to get some literature on geelong, bellarine and ballarat. a lot of information and help are available at the information centre which is manned by paid staff and some volunteers. it is busier than a clinic and you have to take a number to wait for your turn to be served.

walked across the yarra river to the arts centre which includes a building housing theatres and a concert hall- hamer hall. there is also an art gallery further down the road. back at federation square, walked over to st paul cathedral which reminded me of st mary's in sydney. somewhere along the side of the yarra river, at birrarung marr, there is a circus (of oz) with a giant sky wheel, carousel and a trampoline.

to return to clayton, i took the train from flinders street to huntingdale. from huntingdale station, i walked to north road to take bus service 630 back to monash.

dandedong market

this market is open from about 7.00 a.m. to 2 .00 p.m. on tuesdays, fridays and saturdays. dandenong market offers over 300 stalls, selling everything from apples to zippers, including fresh fruit and vegetable stalls, chicken shop, deli, butcher and two fish mongers.

i found an interesting stall here, it is actually more a shop than a stall. one that even has a halal certificate displayed on the glass window. it is called the minaret meats. it sells beef, mutton and chicken. saw quite a number of middle eastern people in the shop.

i got ida to buy me three doughnuts from the travelling van. they are the ball type, without a hole in the middle. she also bought a doner kebab, which she had for lunch.

ivy had wanted to go to dandenong market after church on sunday. told her that it was not open. she said the vegetables sold there are much cheaper than those sold elsewhere.

overnight at wantirna south on arrival in melbourne

our departure was delayed by nearly one hour. instead of flying off at 3.20, the plane took off at about 4.20 p.m. we touched down at melbourne at 1.30 a.m. on 5 july. it took more than half an hour for us to wait to claim our luggage. our four items were about the last to be off loaded from the plane. the customs check was very thorough and strict. they would not allow certain foodstuff to be brought into the country. fortunately, our bengawan solo's pineapple tarts and prawn rolls and our dried cuttlefish were cleared.

by the time we reached our friend's place at wantirna south, which is about 50km from the airport, it was way past 4.00 a.m. did not get much sleep as i was up at 7.00 a.m. because ida had to enrol and register at the university. ida finally got up at 9.30 a.m. my friend drove us to the monash university where we met ivy's housemate rachel who helped us with the enrolment.

chris and del has adopted a new dog named toby since the passing of their old faithful called buggsy. toby is a cross between a doberman and an alsatian. he is as mild as buggsy was.

we went for lunch before returning in the afternoon to do the registration for the modules that ida would be taking in the first semester. there were four other new students in the lecture room. meanwhile my friend chris had returned home to rest.

in the evening, at about 7.00 p.m., we went for dinner with chris khoo, his wife del, ida, ivy and ida's friend valerie. valerie arrived about a week earlier and she is doing the same course as ida. we had shanghainese food at one of the main shopping centres in waverley. the food was nice and inexpensive. paid aus$45 for the dinner.

today, got ivy to drive us to chadstone to buy stuff for ida. still need to get a few more stuff for ida.