Perth to Sydney in 52 Hours

... and it was done by car!
We actually started off late and left at around 5 pm. I had to wait six hours for the car owner to show up and when he did, his front right wheel hit the curb accidentally, leaving permanent scrap marks! At that time, he did not tell me he was the owner of the vehicle!

Another creepy thing about driving along Aussie roads was to see many white wooden crosses strung along many roads. These were testimony to the many fatal accidents in these places. Having had extra-sensory experiences before, I could feel the presence of these souls whose lives were cut short ... sometimes due to their follies but at other times they were innocently killed by drink drivers. What surprised me most was the absence of crosses along Australia's longest straight road in the Nullibor Plain as the temptation to overspeed was there! Apparently, the cops have been doing a good job there!

Australia ...18 Roadkills Update

In going through my notes about my time in Australia, I need to add in more "spice" to my story earlier. Yes, I have not forgotten to say more about the encounters with the profesional cops...
Observations made during the trip ...
The roads from Perth to Sydney were prone to flooding and on two separate occasions I had to drive through flooded roads. The most nerve-wrecking moment for me was when I drove along a road not too far from Broken Hill towards Sydney with my co-driver fast asleep and I saw a warning sign of possible flooding in some parts of it but decided to throw all caution to the wind as it was a balmy hot day with a bright sun up in the heavens and went at maximum 110km/hour cruise speed ... saw some slow movement of a huge truck and four-wheel drive ahead ... hit the brakes and before I knew it ... our vehicle was in sock-high flooded water! The other drivers stared at us as we hit the water with a splash and I realised then that they were possibly concerned about falling over the road into the gully below or a sinkhole perhaps!

The Haunting of West Edmonton Mall (2)

How cruel the world
where a weak soul is the hunter's prey
and the sick silenced the lambs
Never to face justice as the cases go cold ... and colder ...
Oh who am I you ask
Why must I haunt the hollow halls of WEM
when darkness falls
Why may I ask you, perhaps the self-righteous reader
who has and will judge me for what I was when I was amongst you in the land of the living ...
a mere existence, a lonely desolete free-spirited woman
cast in the world's stage as an ill-fortunate lady of the night
serving the wickedly sick pleasures of weak men ...
and yet these men lack the understanding, compassion and humanity to leave me alone to be free in what I do ...Show all

To be continued as the medium dozes off ...

Rapid Action if Too Old!

Thanks again, Ijau for this story. The elderly can indeed be so wise!

HOW TO CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU'RE OLD AND DON'T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.

George Phillips of Gold Coast, Australia was going up to bed when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. ( Boy, does this sound familiar! )

George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?" and he said "no". Then they said that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available. George said, "Okay," hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I've just shot them." Then he hung up.

Within five minutes three police cars, an Armed Response Unit, and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips' residence and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George: "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"

George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

(True Story) I LOVE IT - Don't mess with old people!!

Quick Simple Monkey View

It's a jungle out there!

The march is over... the police did their work, supposedly maintaining law and order, firing teargas and chemical-laced water at the defiant over 40,000 Hindraf demonstrators who refused to disperse ...

The Hindu protest group likely did effective work, however, following the heavy-handedness of the actions of the authorities, by the worldwide publicity of their cause, highlighting the widespread poverty of the Indian community in Malaya for such a lengthy period.

The cops have finally fixed their wounded pride after the Bersih demonstrators made a fool of them by having a huge rally to pass a petition to the King.

Was it all necessary for the generally peaceful confrontation?

Both sides should have come up with a compromise: okay for demonstration but it must be orderly. Not orderly and that would be a permanent ban on future activities imposed on the Hindraf ... Perhaps then, the emotional outlet that humans so weakly require will then be able to be released, bursting out a lot of the anger, frustration and many other feelings that have been bottled up for so long within those who have genuine grievances.

After all, if the authorities allowed the ruling National Front's coalition heavyweight partner, UMNO to stage demonstrations such as the one against American Condileeza Rice's visit in KL among others, surely what's good for the goose is also good for the gander. The opposition parties should be extended equal treatment in all fairness and natural justice.

How much more noble it would be for Malaysians in authority to act fair and just, such as extending equal courteous acts towards friends and foes. The whole world would surely be very impressed by such magnanimous characteristics of Malaysians.

Day 5: Where was I?

This gorilla was in the jungle. That's the truth. Well, honestly, I was in there for many hours, traveling in a bus or coach as some would say. I arrived in my favorite city, Kuching, Sarawak's state capital.

It was a first trip by slow-actually it wasn't; more about it later-coach. Usually, I went by air and in the old days this meant via MAS. Nowadays, we're talking about Air Asia.

By coincidence, before the Monday tragedy in West Malaysia whereby 20 died, on Sunday night as I was in the coach, I was imagining all along the long journey to Bintulu, Sarikei, Serian and finally Kuching how fragile life was when a person had to sit in a frightfully fast-moving vehicle which was almost like a sealed casket. There wasn't even an emergency exit. The glass window panes were huge and thick. When I looked out I could see deep gorges and ravines on both sides of the bumpy roads. All it needed was a burst tyre (tire) and that was it!

How fast was the bus moving? We left at 8:oo P.M. from the Miri Bus Terminal at Pujut. By 8:18 P.M. we had reached the Miri waterworks station, a place I had once been invited to when it was first declared open by a minister and I was a promising star in a certain political party.

That was an amazing speed for the coach to reach the station as I had just been to Lambir National Park a week earlier. It took me 30 minutes by car, traveling at about 70km/hour from Pujut corner where the station is located.

Briefly, some interesting observations along the way:
A) I didn't see a single animal along the way; in the past, I had seen snakes, a chameleon and monkeys;
B) I saw at least three separate native families bathing and washing clothes in two
separate pools of fresh water and a stream;
C) open burning for padi cultivation was less; only 3 cases of open burning was seen;
D) some parts of the highway were unpleasantly bumpy. A journal of mine fell from my bag which was placed in the baggage compartment above our heads to the floor of the coach;
E) the coach stopped at least 4 times along the way at coffee houses. This allowed everyone to ease themselves or to grab some chow;
F) it was an unpleasant experience in Serian when I answered the call of nature and even though the coach driver had been informed of my visit to the washroom near the Serian Bus station, he almost drove off without me! I heard his coach's horn blow and as I rushed out I could see the coach driving off towards the junction...;
G) the bus companies should always 1) tell all passengers the length of the break and 2) do a head count before leaving a place of rest; other companies did so, as I recall but this particular company didn't do so, except on the way to Miri from Kuching;
H) a cop did a good professional check of ICs at around 11:30 pm after the coach left Bintulu. He was courteous but the 11:30 p.m. time wasn't the most happy time for many as it was bedtime in the vehicle;
I) there were 2 drivers who took turns to drive and to rest. This was a reassuring sight;
J) the large TV set didn't work and the explanation by the company in Kuching was that the set had broken down due to the bumpy roads.
k) I killed at least 8 small hungry roaches which apparently crawled out from the corner compartment which housed the air-conditioning engine. At that time, we were just leaving somewhere past Serian and no one else was sitting in the back row seats.

Here's a cop with a sense of humor! it's dedicated to my buddies in Sibu.

Nothing like a bit of humor to lighten up things, especially when there's a hell lot of pressure on them at this time, particularly with the gangsterism issue ... Believe me, most times cops are human too but other times, losing their cool, can be animals, like this blogging handsome orang utan.

It's forgivable, right?

Anyway, have a good laugh!

By the way, did you notice my fellow blogger ( of Rocky's Bru ), Rocky's cool pic here as well? Don't you think there's some sort of close resemblance between the two dudes? I also heard that Rocky does have a long pony tail as well...GGGrrrrrr... verification in future....

I wish to record my jungle chattering thanks to Ijau for the funny pic. My cop buddies will now also love you for humanising them and making them laugh at this time of need.

Cops & Volkswagon

Click to enlarge pic!
There's no beating German technology especially when it comes to engines... and the Volkswagon is a klasse example of fine innovative invention. There's no vehicle comparable to it that does not require a radiator and the damn bugger wirklich floats!

Here's a look at some police Volkswagon patrol vehicles around the world... and you're right, our German freund have imaginatively included one of our future Malaysian police patrol cars... (maybe combined with Malaysian Proton technology?) No doubt if Malaysia ever have a heavy flood problem, there won't be a police mobility worry as the vehicle will float like a boat! Isn't that a nice dream? Wirklich?

DISRESPECTFUL, DISGRACEFUL TREATMENT!

Pic in the New Straits Times dated Febraury 3rd, 2006, showing 6 of the 11 senior citizens who were caught playing a mahjong game with money by the cops and punished by them with total hair-cuts. There was quite an outcry over the cops' insensitivity in the country following the release of this story with this pic and others.

NOW DIDN'T I SAY 11 IS AN UNLUCKY NUMBER?

My All-Time Favorite Radio Deejay-Patrick Teoh aka "The Voice"

Hey, if one of our best funny man, Lat draws him, you know this guy has gotta be the best in the business! Let's open our own truly independent private radio station, hire him with an astronomical pay and let all those *&^%$#@ wet blankets and critics scream and tear their dirty hair out!

Cartoon extracted from New Straits Times, 1/30/96.