Sunday, July 13, 2008

Hello, New Zealand!

The Odyssey begins ...

The plane lands amidst the glowing warm lights of Auckland Airport in the wee hours of a Sunday... after the long wait at the Brisbane Airport and witnessing the distressing 'show' when a young female Caucasian passenger pleaded and pleaded with Aussie Customs to allow her to bring the toy into New Zealand ... and then sobbed when her child's toy was confiscated at the airport...

Queries by truly professional female Immigration Officers and a patient wait for final clearance ...

Out from the airport's departure lounge ... and into a surreal world of cold Summer air and into The Twilight Zone! The bus ride to Sky City is so marvellous... Songs from the past...60's and 70's oldies but goodies loudly blast from the stereo speakers in the comfortable clean vehicle that is driven by a high spirited cheerful and friendly middle-age man.

Imagine if it is Malaysia and every half an hour on the radio's English network (all controlled by the government) when some English songs are played ... a 5-minute Islamic talk interrupts rather annoyingly... and ten years ago it was never like that.

Here, the almost uninterrupted-except for a brief introduction to the station on air-musical presentation really pulls at the heart strings of any music lover...Cool hits like House of the Rising Sun, Rhythm of the Falling Rain, Lemon Tree, Groovy Kind of Love, Under the Boardwalk, To Sir with Love, Sound of Silence, Moon River, Born Free, Donna, Those were the Days , The Lion Sleeps Tonight so and many, many others ... All of them bring heart-wrenching memories of those days when life was so care-free... and dreams were endless...

To be continued.

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